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1 

LIVES 

OF  THE 

ARCHBISHOPS  OF  CANTEEBUEY. 

VOL.  IX. 


LO.JTOON:    rillNTKD   sr 

SB0TTI8W00DE    AND    CO.,    HKW-8TBBSX    SQCAKB 

AND    F%BLIAMKHT    STUBBT 


J4- 


LIVES 


ARCHBISHOPS  OF  CANTERBURY. 


BY 


WALTEE  FAEQUHAE  HOOK,  D.D.  F.E.S. 


DEAN    OF    CHICHESTER, 

VOLUME  IX. 
REFORMATION    PERIOD. 


History  which  maybe  called  just  and  perfect  history  is  of  three  kinds,  according  to  the  object  which 
St  propoundeth  or  pretendeth  to  represent ;  for  it  either  representeth  a  time,  or  a  person,  or  an  action. 
The  first  we  call  Chronicles,  the  second  Lives,  and  the  third  Narratives  or  Relations.  Of  these,  although 
Chronicles  be  the  most  complete  and  absolute  kind  of  history,  and  hath  most  estimation  and  glory,  yet 
Lives  excelleth  in  profit  and  use,  and  Narratives  or  Relations  in  verity  or  sincerity.        Lord  Baoon. 


-6 


1*1 

LONDON : 
RICHARD  BENTLEY  &  SON,  NEW  BURLINGTON  STREET, 

Jablisljms  m  (Drbnrarg  to  gjtr  ptajeatg. 
1872. 


The  right  of  translation  is  reserved. 


ADVEETISEMENT, 


An  apology  is  due  to  the  public  for  the  delay  in  the 
publication  of  this  Volume.  It  would  be  an  impertinence 
on  the  part  of  an  author  to  appeal  to  the  sympathy  of 
his  readers,  the  great  majority  of  whom  must  be  strangers 
to  him ;  but  it  will  be  easily  understood,  how  impossible 
it  was  to  engage  in  a  work,  which,  to  be  rendered  in 
any  respect  worthy  of  the  reader's  notice,  required  the 
undivided  attention  of  the  writer  and  the  exercise  of  all 
his  intellectual  powers,  during  months  of  intense  domestic 
anxiety,  concluded  by  an  affliction  so  stunning  in  its  effect 
as  to  paralyse,  for  a  time,  the  powers  of  the  mind. 

A  portion  of  this  Volume  having  been  written  nearly 
twelve  months  before  the  latter  portion  of  it  was  resumed, 
some  repetitions  may  have  occurred  for  which  the 
reader's  indulgence  is  asked. 


\i  *  ADTEETISEMETn1. 

At  the  suggestion  of  some  friendly  revie^yers,  and  at  the 
request  of  many  of  his  readers,  the  Author  has  divided 
the  Biography  of  Parker  into  several  Chapters  ;  and  lias 
desired  to  assist  the  student  by  the  addition  of  side  notes, 
referring  to  the  statements  made  in  the  context  and 
occasionally  supplying  for  his  guidance  a  reference  to 
dates. 


CONTENTS 


THE      NINTH      VOLUME. 


BOOK     IV. — continued. 
CHAPTER   V. 

MATTHEW    PARKER. 

The  Parker  family. — Nicolas  Parker,  the  founder. — William  Parker. — 
His  marriage  with  Alice  Monins.—- Birth  of  Matthew  Parker. — His 
early  education. — Death  of  his  father. — Enters  at  Cambridge. — 
State  of  the  University. — Date  of  Parker's  matriculation. — Takes  his 
degree. — Master  of  his  college. — Revenue  of  the  college. — Founda- 
tion of  the  library. — Elected  vice-chancellor. — Controversy  with 
Bishop  Gardyner. — Interview  with  Henry  VIII. — Visitation  of 
Cambridge  in  1549       .......         page  1 


CHAPTER   VI. 

PARKER    AS    A   STUDENT    AND    DIVINE. 

Parker's  early  opinions. — Lutheranrtfn  at  Cambridge. — Thomas 
Bilney. — The  Anabaptists. — Dr.  Barnes  and  the  White  House. — 
Martin  Bucer. — Parker  preaches  his  funeral  sermon. — Scholasticism 
iind  the  Schoolmen. — Parker's  patristic  studies. — The  tour  great 
councils. — The  Erglish  reformers. — Catholics  and  Protestants       32 


viii  CO  OF 

CHAPTER  VII. 

PARKER   AS   A   PASTOR    AND    PREACIIER. 

Pinker  returns  to  Norwich. — Is  licensed  to  preach. — Becomes  chaplain 
to  Anne  Boleyn,  and  Dean  of  Stoke. — Appointed  chaplain  to 
Uruvy  VIII. — The  deanery  of  Stoke. — Reforms  of  153G-43. — 
Statute  of  six  articles. — Presented  to  the  living  of  Ashen. — Pre- 
bendary of  Ely. — Rector  of  Burlingham. — Of  Landbeach. — Is  ac- 
i  of  heresy. — Dr.  Stokes. — Dissolution  of  Stoke. — Parker  is 
inted  Dean  of  Lincoln. — Marries  Margaret  Harleston. — Reforms 
of  1547  and  1549. — Summoned  to  preach  at  Paul's  Cross.: — Dis- 
turbances of  1549. — Rising  in  the  West.— Rett's  insurrection. — 
Parker  during  the  reign  of  Mary. — His  accident. — View  of  his 
character page  G4 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  MARY  TO  THE  ELECTION  OF  PARKER. 

Position  of  Parker  on  the  accession  of  Elizabeth. — The  great  parties  in 
the  country.  —  The  Reformers. —  The  Exiles.  —  Anabaptists  and 
Lollards. — Papists. — Condition  of  the  clergy. — Character  of  Eliza- 
beth.— Policy  of  the  government. — Conduct  of  the  pope. — Corona- 
tion of  Elizabeth. — Parker  summoned  to  London.  —  Liturgical 
Reforms. — Act  of  Uniformity. — Act  of  Supremacy. — Spoliation  Act. 
— Westmin.-ter  Conference. — Diocesans  summoned  before  the  Privy 
Council. — Reception  of  the  Prayer  Book. — The  regular  clergy  advo- 
cates of  the  papal  supremacy. — The  secular  clergy  in  favour  of  the 
:i  nation. — Apostolical  Succession. — Primacy  offered  to  Parker. 
—  Refused. — Offered  to  Dr.  Wotton.  —  Offered  to  Feckenham. — 
Parker  nominated  Primate. — His  letter  Jo  the  queen. — His  election, 
— Commissions  for  his  confirmation. — Difference  between  valid  and 
legal  consecration. — Number  of  officiating  bishops  to  make  a  conse- 
cration Kegel. — Parker's  confirmation. — Letter  of  the  emperor  to  the 
queen.— Petition  of  the  Puritans. — Court  of  High  Commission. — 
Preparations  for  Parker's  consecration. — William  Barlow  chosen  to 
j  reside. — His  history. — Co-operating  bishops. — The  consecration. — 
Appendix    ...........     120 


THE   NINTH    VOLUME.  ix 

CHAPTER   IX. 

PROCEEDINGS    IMMEDIATELY    AFTER    PARKER'S   CONSECRATION. 

Parker's  position  as  primate. — Archbishop  Heath's  letter  of  remon- 
strance.— Parker's  reply. — Treatment  of  the  non-juring  bishops. — 
Change  of  policy  at  Borne. — Death  of  Paul  IV. — Pins  IV.  and  Queen 
Elizabeth. — Invitation  to  the  Council  of  Trent. — Elizabeth  an  avowed 
Catholic. — Consecration  of  bishops. — Correspondence  with  John 
Calvin. — Rules  for  ordination. — Lay  help. — Disagreement  among  the 
bishops. — Fire  at  St.  Paul's. — The  episcopal  assessors. — John  Jewel. 
— His  sermon  at  Paul's  Cross. — Apology  for  the  Church  of  England. 
— Sketch  of  the  condition  of  the  English  Church    .         .     page  255 

CHAPTER   X. 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  CONVOCATION. 

Authority  of  a  Metropolitan. — Powers  of  Convocation. — Prohibited 
degrees  of  marriage. — Lax  notion  among  Protestants  on  the  subject 
of  marriage. — Latin  version  of  the  Prayer  Book. — Office  in  behalf 
of  benefactors. — Communion  office  at  funerals. — Re-introduction  of 
the  Catholic  Calendar,  and  its  reformation. — The  Lectionary. — 
Second  Book  of  Homilies. — The  Great  Bible. — The  Geneva  Bible. — 
Bishops'  Bible.  —  Parker's  selection  of  translators.  —  Thirty- nine 
Articles. — Articles  as  much  opposed  to  ultra- Protestantism  as  to 
Popery         .         .         . 292 

CHAPTER    XT. 

PARKER    IN    CONVOCATION. 

Programme  for  the  opening  of  Convocation  drawn  up  by  the  archbishop. 
— Meeting  of  Convocation  on  12th  of  January. — Sermon  preached  by 
the  Provost  of  Eton.  —  Dean  Nowell  prolocutor.  —  Defaulters  pro- 
nounced contumacious. — Meetings  at  the  Chapter  House  of  St.  Paul's 
and  in  Henry  VII. 's  Chapel. — Revolutionary  measures  of  the  minority. 
— Bishop  Sandys. — Alterations  proposed  in  the  Prayer  Book. — Mino- 
rity of  thirty-three. — Dissenting  tactics. — Church  saved  by  Anglo- 
Catholics. — Prolocutor  accepted  by  the  primate. — Thirty-nine  Arti- 
cles accepted  by  the  Northern  Convocation  as  well  as  by  that  of  Can- 
terbury.—  Clause  in  the  20th  .Article. — Novell's  Catechisms. — Cecil 


CONTESTS  OF 

and  Parker  op]  Sectarianism. — Catechism  formally  received, 

bat  not  adopted  by  the  Synod. — Freedom  of  Bpeech  encouraged. — 
Legislation  prevented.— Unsatisfactory  state  of  the  Temporalities. — 

Dissolution  of  Convocation. — Parker's  description  of  the  members. — 

!<t   policy. — Clerical  apparel. — Marriage  with  a  deceased  wife's 

:. — Convocation  of  1571. — Subscription  to  the  Articles.— Catho- 

licism  of  the  English  Church. — Ancient  Catholic  canons  still  the  law 

iA'  the    Church   of  England. — Convocation  of  1572. — Archbishop's 

page  340 


CHAPTER   XII. 


CONTROVERSIES. 

Party  government. — Vestment  controversy. — The  principle  of  Eliza- 
beth's government. — Reformation  of  an  old  Church,  not  the  estab- 
i  lishment  of  a  Protestant  sect, — Elizabeth's  ecclesiastical  policy. — 
Two-thirds  of  clergy  and  laity  were  Anglo- Catholics. — Concessions 
made  on  both  sides. — Bishop  Gheast's  letter  on  the  Eucharist. — Di- 
versities of  practice. — Bad  taste  of  the  Puritans. — Persecution   of 
Parker. — His  life  threatened. — Mandate  of  the  queen  to  the  primate 
and  his  suffragans  to  enforce  uniformity. — Vacillation  of  the  queen. 
— Earl  of  Leicester  ;  his  evil  influence  with  the  queen. — A  profligate 
man,  though*  the  leader  of  the  Puritans. — Parker's  employment  of  the 
press. — Foreign  theologians   consulted. — Parker's  misunderstanding 
with  the   queen. — Change  of  opinion    in  Jewel   and  others. — The 
attack  nominally  on  vestments,  in  reality  on  Episcopacy. — Puritans 
discovered    Anti-Christ  in  the    Church   of  England. — Royal   Com- 
mission.— Controversy    with    Sampson    and    Humphry s. — Parker's 
generosity  to  his  opponents. — Disturbances  in  London  churches. — 
Eucharist  profaned — Clergy  in  surplices  mobbed. — Insults  offered  to 
the  archbishop's  chaplains. — Forms  observed  in  celebrating. — London 
clergy  cited  before  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners. — Addressed  by 
the    Chancellor. — Licences  for  preaching  revoked  and    renewed. — 
Papal  privileges   asserted  at    Cambridge. — Parker's    success. —  Cha- 
racter   of    the    English    Reformation.  —  Peter    Heylin,     Wolfgang 
Musculus. —  Establishment    of    Anglo- Romanism    in    opposition    to 
Anglo-Catholicism. — Excommunication  of  Elizabeth  by  the  prpe. — 
Establishment  of  Protestant  Dissent. — Thomas  Cartwright. —  Cppo- 
sition    to    Episcopacy. —  All    Church    principles   denied   seriatim. — 
Romish  dissent  not  fbimally  established  before  the  time  of  Cardinal 
Wiseman.— Puritan  pchitm  established  at  Wandsworth. — Trouble 


THE   SIXTH    VOLUME.  xi 

towards  the  close  of  Parker's  life. — Parliament  of  1571. — Bitter 
feeling  of  the  Puritan  members  against  the  bishops  and  the  Church. — 
Violence  of  Strickland. — Peter  Wentworth. — Precisians. — Brownists. 
— Prophesyings. — Earl  of  Sussex. — Visitation  of  the  Isle  of  Wight. — 
Parker  insulted  at  Court. — His  angry  letter  .  .  .     page  3G6 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

VISITATIONS. 

Parker's  care  not  to  increase  the  expenses  of  the  inferior  clergy. — 
Determined  to  hold  a  metropolitical  visitation. — Opposed  by  his 
Suffragans. — The  returned  Exiles  preferred. — Their  avarice. — Visi- 
tation of  Canterbury  by  Commission. — Anglo-Catholics  and  Puritans. 
— Inquiry  into  the  state  of  churches. —  Irregularity  of  the  inquiries. 
— Irregularities  brought  to  light. — Incestuous  marriages. — Diocesan 
visitations. — Parker  declined  procurations. — Parker  appeared  in  great 
state,  but  paid  all  expenses  from  his  private  purse. — His  residence  at 
Bekesbourne. — Scarcity  of  food. — Fast  appointed  by  the  archbishop. 
— Form  of  prayer  drawn  up  by  Grindal. — Corrected  by  Parker. — 
Visitation  of  Hospitals  and  Schools. — Visitation  of  Sandwich. — The 
archiepiscopal  peculiars. — State  of  Canterbury  Cathedral. — Regula- 
tions for  preachers. — Complaints  of  irregularity  in  the  local  dioceses. 
— Articles  of  inquiry  in  the  diocese  of  Norwich  — Visitation  of  the 
Metropolitan  Cathedral. — Efficacy  of  Prayer.— Quarrel  with  Lord 
Keeper  Bacon. — Visits  his  own  diocese  in  person. — Confirmations  and 
Statutes  given  to  Cathedrals  of  the  new  foundation. — Concealers. — 
Consecrations. — Dispute  between  the  Dean  and  one  of  the  Canons. — 
Hospitals  visited. — Appointment  of  a  Suffragan  Bishop  of  Dover. — 
Visits  the  Universities. — Royal  Commission. — Disturbances  at  Cam- 
bridge.— Condition  of  Bene't  College. — Winchester,  Eton,  and  West- 
minster visited. — Alarm  at  the  report  of  the  Parisian  Massacre  on 
St.  Bartholomew's  Day. — Seminarists  in  England  .  .     420 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

JUDICIAL    PROCEEDINGS. 

Inns  of  Court. — Difficulties  besetting  a  judge — Ecclesiastical  Commis- 
si on. — Tendency  of  Puritanism  to  democracy — Dr.  Yale. — Parkers 
defence  of  Yale's  appointment. — Court  of  Faculties. — Papal  encroach- 
ments.— Archbishop's  authority  to  supersede  papal  dispensations. — 


xil  CONTENTS   OP 

Reform  of  Court  impeded. — Court  of  Faculties  an  offensive  Court.- 
Parker  accused  of  partiality  by  Leicester. — Reformation  of  the  Court 
of  Faculties. — Case  of  Bigamy. — Singular  case. — Case  of  Lady  Katha- 
rine Grey. — Judgment  given  against  her,  and  the  Earl  of  Hertford, 
who  claimed  to  be  her  husband.— Their  imprisonment, — Lady  Katha- 
rine's apartments  in  the  Tower. — Lady  Katharine  committed  to  the 
custody  of  her  uncle,  Lord  John  Grey,  when  the  plague  was  in 
London. — Her  death. — Parker  censured. — Lady  Mary  Grey. — Case 
of  George  Googe. — Cecil's  interference. — Parker's  conduct  vindicated. 
— Reform  of  the  Court  of  Arches. — Dr.  Clarke. — Bornelius  page  458 


CHAPTER   XV. 
parkeu's  literary  pursuits. 

Version  of  the  Psalms. — On  celibacy  of  the  clergy. — Excerpta  from 
Martin's  book. — Parker  obtains  an  order  of  the  Privy  Council  to 
borrow  books. — Number  of  books  collected. — Matthias  Flacius,  sur- 
named  Ulyricus. — Elfric's  Anglo-Saxon  Homily. — Gildas. — John 
Josceline. — Bale,  the  precursor  of  the  Master  of  the  Rolls. — The 
Chronicles. — Flores  Historiarum, — Matthew  Paris. — Walsingham's 
Historia  Anglicana  and  Hypodigma  Neustriae. — Asser's  Life  of 
Alfred. — Parker  as  an  editor. — De  Antiquitate  Britannica?  Ecclesia?. 
— Parkers  bequest  to  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge. — List  of 
his  works     ...  ......     48G 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

PRIVATE    AND    DOMESTIC    LIFE. 

The  lordly  state  of  bishops  defended. — Addition  to  Parker's  coat-< 
arms. — The  motto  assumed  by  Parker  attests  his  humility. — Parker's 
seal. — Sustained  the"port"  of  a  bishop. — Hishouschold,  order,  attend- 
ance.— Definition  of  duties  to  the  members  of  his  family. — Paid  high 
wages. — Surprising  that  he  should  be  accused  of  penuriousness. — 
Accused  to  Cecil  both  of  extravagance  and  penuriousness. — Sir  John 

Parker's  description   of  the  revenues  of  the  see. — Cheque  Roll. 

Benefactions  to  his  University  and  College. — Dilapidated  state  of  the 
property. — Repairs  at  Lambeth  and  at  Canterbury.— Parker's  care 
of  the  accounts. — Repairs  atBekesbourne. — Increases  the  endowment 

of  the  Bekcsbourne  living. — Rebuilds  his  house  at  Bekesbourne. 

Revenues  froinFord. — Opposition  of  the  courtiers. — Lambeth  Manor 


THE   NINTH    VOLUME 


Xlll 


House  converted  into  the  Palace  of  the  see  of  Canterbury. — Splendour 
of  Parker's  entertainments. — Robbery  of  the  episcopal  estates. — The 
three  festivals  at  Canterbury. — The  archbishop  continued  to  enter- 
tain ambassadors,  and  to  act  as  jailer  to  state  prisoners. — Tunstall, 
Boxall,  Thirlby,  Lord  Henry  Howard,  Lord  Stourton. — Schedule  of 
state  prisoners. — French  ambassador  entertained  by  Parker. — Mrs. 
Parker's  private  apartments. — The  archbishop  stands,  with  the 
queen  and  Duke  of  Norfolk,  sponsor  to  the  child  of  the  Margrave  of 
Baden. — The  archbishop  receives  the  communion  with  the  queen. 
— Visit  of  the  queen  to  the  archbishop  in  1560. — Noble  members  of 
Parker's  household. — His  table.— Provision  for  his  wife. — For  his 
children. — Death  of  Mrs.  Parker. — Death  of  Parker's  second  son. — 
The  queen  visits  Parker  at  Lambeth. — The  queen's  maundy. — She 
visits  the  archbishop  at  Croydon. — Visits  him  at  Canterbury. — 
Parker's  contemporaries. — Prepares  his  tomb. — His  will. — Death 
and  character        .....  .  page  519 


SUCCESSION 


OF 


ARCHBISHOPS  AND  CONTEMPORARY  SOVEREIGNS. 


Archbishop 

Conse- 
cration 

Consecrators            1  ^JJJ*" 

Death 

Contemporary 

Sovereign 

Matthew  Parker    . 

1559 

(Will.  Chichester  .  / 
J  John  Hereford  .  .  . 
J  John  Bedford    .  .  . 
1  Miles  (ex)  Exeter    ., 

1559 

1575 

Elizabeth 

TABLE 


OF 


CONTEMPOEAEY    SOVEREIGNS. 


A.D. 

England 

Scotland 

Germany 

France 

Pope 

Spain 

1559 

Elizabeth 

Mary   . 

Ferdinand  I. 

Francis  II. 

Pius  IV.  .      . 

Philip  II. 

15C0 

. 

Charles  IX. 

1564 

. 

Maximilian  II. 

. 

1666 

. 

. 

PiusV.    .      . 

1507 

James  VI. 

1572      . 

. 

Gregory  XIII. 

1674 

• 

Henry  III. 

LIVES 


AKCHBISHOPS  OF  CANTEKBURY. 


BOOK    IV.— continued. 

CHAPTER    V. 

MATTHEW   PARKER. 

The  Parker  family. — Nicolas  Parker,  the  founder. — William  Parker. — 
His  marriage  with  Alice  Monins. — Birth  of  Matthew  Parker. — His 
early  education. — Death  of  his  father. — Enters  at  Cambridge. — 
State  of  the  University — Date  of  Parker's  matriculation. — Takes  his 
degree. — Master  of  his  college. — Revenue  of  the  college. — Founda- 
tion of  the  library. — Elected  vice-chancellor.— Controversy  with 
Bishop  Gardyner. — Interview  with  Henry  VIII. — Visitation  of 
Cambridge  in  1549. 

The  family  of  Matthew  Parker,  the  seventieth  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  occupied  a  respectable  position  among  the 
commercial  aristocracy  of  the  country,  at  a  time  when  to 
the  wholesale    dealer  in  England  the  title  of  merchant 

Authorities. — The  works  of  John   Strype,  in  the  collections  he  has 
made  from  the  public  archives,  are  of  incalculable  value  to  the  student  of 
English  history,  whether  civil  or  ecclesiastical. .  When  we  remember  the 
VOL.  IX.  B 


CHAP. 
V. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 
Parentage, 
birth,  and 
education. 


lives  ov  Tin: 


chap,    prince  was  Grst  attached.    The  founder  of  the  family,  or 

— ; — '  of  its  commercial  prosperity,  was  Nicolas  Parker,  who, 

Parker.1"    being  by  profession  a  notary  public,  was  appointed  by 

difficulties,  now  removed,  which  attended  such  researches  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eighteenth  century,  his  incessant  industry  does  indeed  appeal 
marvellous  ;  but  from  the  vast  extent  of  his  labours,  and  the  haste 
in  which  some  of  his  transcriptions  were  necessarily  made,  it  would 
have  been  almost  a  miracle  if  he  had  been  invariably  accurate;  while, 
at  the  same  time,  we  have  to  complain  of  the  careless  manner  in  which 
the  references  to  his  authorities  are  given.  Strype  was  not  so  much  an 
historian  as  a  collector  of  the  materials  of  history;  and  the  historian 
finds  it  necessary  to  verify  the  quotations  of  Strype,  and  to  collate  his 
transcriptions  with  the  original,  before  he  can  venture  to  adopt  them 
as  authoritative.  This  labour  in  the  nineteenth  century  is  very  different 
from  what  it  was  in  the  time  of  Strype.  The  present  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  with  sagacious  forethought,  has  not  only  provided  means  of  easy 
access  to  the  public  documents  under  his  custody,  but  he  has,  with  a 
soundness  of  judgment  seldom  at  fault,  selected  as  editors  of  those 
documents  which  have  been  submitted  to  the  press,  scholars  equally 
distinguished  for  their  eminence  in  general  literature  and  for  their 
archaeological  studies  ;  while  in  Sir  Thomas  Duffus  Hardy  the  inquirer 
finds  a  living  index  to  our  national  muniments,  and  one  who  takes 
pleasure  in  facilitating  and  abridging  the  labours  of  research.  From 
these  circumstances  we  may  express  surprise,  while  we  give  utterance 
to  the  complaint,  that  Strype  has  never  had  an  editor.  His  works, 
as  they  issued  from  the  Clarendon  Press  some  years  ago,  are  simply 
a  reprint,  and  nothing  more, — a  reprint  in  which  are  often  retained 
what  were  mere  clerical  blunders  in  the  original  edition.  In  works 
such  as  those  which  are  attributed  to  Strype,  what  to  the  ordinary 
reader  may  appear  to  be  a  trivial  error,  may  become  a  serious  mistake, 
either  hindering  or  misdirecting  further  research.  An  edition  of  Strype 
was  contemplated  by  one  eminently  qualified  to  discharge  the  duties 
of  an  editor, — the  late  Dr.  Maitland,  whose  papers  have  been  placed  in 
my  hands.  What  has  been  said  of  Strype  may  be  repeated  with  refer- 
ence to  Jeremy  Collier.  Collier,  like  Strype,  had  no  acumen  as  a 
critic  :  the  art  of  criticism  in  his  days  had  scarcely  come  into  existence; 
and  while  in  the  present  generation  it  is  the  fashion  to  throw  doubt 
upon  every  historic  statement  hitherto  received  as  authentic,  so,  in 
Collier's  time,  the  authenticity  of  traditional  assertions  was  accepted, 
too  often  without  sufficient  examination.  Collier  is  nevertheless  the 
historian  of  the  English  Church.    Later  historians  have  done  little  more 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 


Archbishop  Stafford,  in  the  year  1450,  principal  registrar     chap. 
of  the  Spiritual  Court  of  Canterbury.     On  Nicolas  Parker  —J — 
devolved  the  custody  of  all  the  public  acts,  muniments,     Parker* 


than  modernize  the  statements  inartistically  arranged  by  him,  and 
expressed  in  what  is  now  called  a  slipshod  style.  He  invariably  refers 
to  contemporary  authorities ;  and,  having  had  occasion  for  many  years 
to  follow  him,  I  may  say  that  he  quotes  or  translates,  if  not  always 
correctly,  always  with  intentional  fairness.  He  is,  on  the  whole,  the 
most  impartial  historian  with  whom  I  am  acquainted.  His  collections 
in  the  Appendix  to  his  History  are  extremely  valuable ;  but  they  are 
subject  to  the  same  detraction  we  adopt  in  reference  to  Strype.  To 
the  latter  writer,  Collier,  as  a  learned  divine,  was  much  superior.  To 
both  Strype  and  Collier,  Bishop  Burnet  is  in  every  respect  inferior ;  but 
his  History  of  the  Reformation  has  obtained,  extrinsically,  a  value  not 
pertaining  to  the  work  itself,  in  the  fact  that  it  possesses  in  Mr.  Pocock 
an.  editor  who,  for  accuracy  and  research,  has  seldom  been  equalled, 
and  never  surpassed.  In  preparing  his  edition  of  Burnet,  Mr.  Pocock 
has  examined  other  documents  relating  to  the  Reformation,  which,  it  is 
to  be  hoped,  he  may  in  due  time  commit  to  the  press.  In  the  mean 
time,  his  criticism  on  Burnet,  the  most  unfair  and  prejudiced  of 
historians,  has  thrown  considerable  light  upon  the  history  of  the  Re- 
formation. Heylin  also  has  found,  in  Canon  Robertson,  an  editor  worthy 
of  a  work,  the  merits  of  which  are  brought  into  stronger  light  by  the 
ableness  of  his  researches.  To  other  collectors  of  public  documents, 
such  as  Haynes,  Forbes,  D'Ewes,  and  the  Cabala,  it  will  be  seen  from 
the  foot-notes  that  I  am  indebted ;  but  as  I  have  had  to  refer  to  them 
only  occasionally,  I  forbear  to  offer  with  respect  to  them  any  critical 
remarks.  I  will  only  observe,  that  I  have  found  it  necessary,  when 
quoting  D'Ewes  as  an  authority,  to  refer,  in  the  first  instance,  to  the 
Journals  of  Parliament.  The  brief  sketch  of  his  early  history  by  Parker 
himself,  and  the  '  Mathaaus '  appended  to  the  '  De  Antiquitate,'  throw 
light  upon  his  history.  His  letters,  both  of  a  private  and  of  a  public 
character,  are  invaluable  to  his  biographer,  and  have  been  brought 
within  easy  access  by  their  publication  by  the  Parker  Society,  under 
the  careful  and  judicious  editorship  of  Mr.  Bruce  and  the  Rev. 
T.  T.  Perowne, —  worthy  representatives  of  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge.  To  the  authorities  of  that  college,  literature  in  general  is 
indebted  for  the  careful  preservation  of  the  Parker  Papers  ;  and  students 
in  particular,  for  the  readiness  and  the  courtesy  with  which  the  literary 
treasures  in  their  possession  are  opened  to  inspection. 

b  2 


1559- 


LIVES   OF   THE 


I 
I 


chap,    and  ra  of  the  entire  province:  and  amid  the  fearful 

«*  corruption  of  the  spiritual  court-,  of  which  mention  has 
been  made  in  the  life  of  Warham,  it  is  no  ordinary  praise 
is.  that,  through  a  long  period,  the  character  of  Nicolas 
Parker,  for  integrity,  professional  zeal,  and  sound  judg- 
ment, was  never  impeached.  Archbishop  Stafford  ap- 
|)(  tinted  him  M  <  >ul  ( »f  regard  to  the  honesty  of  his  behaviour, 
and  his  other  gifts  of  integrity  and  honour."  When,  in 
1  183,  "broken  in  age,  and  hindered  from  business  by 
many  infirmities,"  he  tendered  his  resignation  to  Arch- 
bishop Bourchier,  the  archbishop  refused  to  receive  it, 
but  appointed  an  assistant.  Nicolas  Parker  did  not  long 
enjoy  his  comparative  retirement:  the  last  document  we 
possess  to  which  his  name  is  attached  bears  the  date  of 
June,  1484.  About  that  time  he  died  at  his  house  in  Ivy 
Lane,  in  the  parish  of  St.  Faith's  in  the  city  of  London. 

It  is  to  be  recorded  to  the  credit  of  Nicolas  Parker, 
that,  while  holding  an  office  in  which,  through  peculation 
and  extortion,  fortunes  had  been  dishonestly  made,  he 
bequeathed  no  fortune  to  his  descendants,  but  only  the 
competence  which  enabled  them  to  make  a  fair  start  in 
business.  But,  although  he  would  not  pollute  his  soul 
by  the  dishonest  acquisition  of  filthy  lucre,  he  par- 
ticipated in  the  general  feeling  of  the  age,  and  by  ob- 
taining a  grant  of  arms,  he  established  the  gentility  of 
his  family.  At  that  time,  the  College  of  Heralds  was  a 
reality,  and  no  one  could  venture  to  assume  a  coat  of 
arms  until  he  could  prove  his  right  to  the  distinction  at 
the  visitation  of  the  heralds.  Parker  bore  for  his  coat  of 
arms,  on  a  field  gules,  three  keys  erected  ;  and  so  im- 
portant did  the  archbishop  think  this  distinction,  that, 
when  he  desired  to  establish  a  distinct  branch  of  the  family, 
he  obtained  for  it  an  addition  to  the  shield, — a  chevron 
charged  with  three  resplendent  estoiles.     The  age 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY. 

in  this  respect  punctilious,  and  in  heraldry  three  classes     chap. 
existed.     Arms  paternal  and  hereditary  were  transmitted  - — ^ — « 
to    the    descendants    of  the    original   grantee  :    the    son     pHrkeaT 
becoming  a  gentleman  of  the   second  coat  armour,  the    1559-75. 
grandson   a   gentleman  of  blood,  the   great-grandson  a 
gentleman  of  ancestry. 

The  grandson  of  Nicolas,  William  Parker — the  arch- 
bishop's father — was  a  tradesman  in  Norwich,  a  calenderer 
of  stuffs.    The  fact  of  his  being  a  gentleman  of  blood  was 
of  service  to  him,  no  doubt,  when  he  sought  to  ally  him- 
self by  marriage  with  "  the  worshipful  house  of  Monins,  His 
or  Monings."     This  was  a  Kentish  family,  a  branch  of  Aifce61"' 
which  had  originally  migrated  from  Norfolk.      From  the  Monius- 
manner  in  which  the  marriage  is  referred  to  by  the  con- 
temporaries of  the  archbishop,  it  is  evident  that,  when 
William  Parker  was  married  to  Alice  Monins,  he  was 
regarded  as  having  made  a  good  match ;  and  such  in 
every  respect   his   marriage  was.     It  was   through   his 
mother  that  Matthew  Parker  was  related  to  the  Earl  of  JfrI.of 

Notting- 

Nottingham.  His  grandmother*  was  Alicia,  daughter  ham. 
of  John  Carey,  gentleman,  of  Snetisham,  in  the  county  of 
Norfolk  ;  and  Matthew  Parker's  uncle  had,  apparently, 
married  another  member  of  the  same  family.  The  Careys 
of  Snetisham  and  Carey  Lord  Hunsdon,  a  relative  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  were  originally  of  the  same  trunk. 
Katharine,  the  daughter  of  Henry  Carey  Lord  Hunsdon, 
in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  was  the  first  wife  of  Charles 
Howard,  first  Earl  of  Nottingham.  If  we  may  say  of 
any  fact  of  history,  that  it  is  unimportant,  we  might  be 
tempted  to  pay  little  regard  to  such  a  statement  as  this, 
were  it  not  that  it  implies  a  reason  for  the  presence 
of  the  Earl  of  Nottingham  at  Parker's  consecration,  his 
testimony  to  which  transaction  being,  as  we  shall  here- 

*  See  original  pedigree,  A  211-12,  at  Heralds'  College. 


6  Lmes  of  the 

OHAF.     after  have  occasion  to  show,  of  considerable  contro\ 


v. 


value. 


SSte  The  marriage  of  William  Parker  and  Alice  Moninfl 
1659-75.  was  productive  of  \mn'\\  domestic  happiness,  although 
they  had  to  mourn  the  loss  in  early  life  of  two  children, 
who  died  before  the  birth  of  Matthew.  Matthew  was 
the  eldest  of  the  children  who  survived  his  father.  Of 
Botolph,  the  next  son,  we  know  little,  except  that  lie 
was  in  holy  orders  ;  but  the  name  of  Thomas,  next  in  the 
family  succession,  will  frequently  occur  in  these  p;: 
Thomas  Parker  became  a  tradesman  of  Norwich,  though 
it  does  not  appear  whether  he  pursued  his  father  s  busi- 
ness or  not.  Between  him  and  Matthew  a  cordial  friend- 
ship existed,  and  on  several  occasions  Thomas  was  able 
to  render  assistance  to  his  brother,  in  whose  household, 
after  Matthew's  consecration,  he  held  an  important  post. 
It  was  a  proud  day  for  Thomas  when,  as  Mayor  of  Norwich, 
he  publicly  entertained  his  brother,  the  Lord  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  Primate  of  all  England,  and  Metropolitan. 
Matthew  Parker  felt  justly  proud  when,  the  first  peer  in 
parliament  next  to  royalty  itself,  he  pointed  to  the  cir- 
cumstance of  his  having  risen  to  this  eminence  from  that 
great  middle  class  with  which,  through  his  brother,  he 
continued  to  be  connected.  There  was  a  sister  named 
Margaret. 
Biographi-  In  the  biographical  memorandums  preserved  in  Corpus 
Christi  College,  Cambridge,  Matthew  Parker  refers  in  the 
following  quaint  terms  to  his  early  years,  and  his  primary 
education : — * 

*  These  memorandums  are  written  on  a  small  roll  of  parchment. 
It  is  evident  that  they  were  made  at  various  times,  sometimes  long 
after  the  events  recorded  took  place,  and  probably  towards  the  close  of 
the  archbishop's  life.  Hence  they  cannot  always  be  taken  as  chrono- 
logically correct.  Their  accuracy  must  be  tested  by  reference  to  other 
records.     They  do  not  extend  beyond  Parker's  consecration. 


I 


cal  memo- 
randums. 


AKCHBISIIOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 


"  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1 504,  on  the  6th  of  August,  the 
letter  Gr  and  F,  Matthew  Parker  was  born,  at  Norwich,  in  the 
parish  of  St.  Saviour;  and  was  brought  up  in  the  parish  of 
All  Saints,  near  Fyebridge  Grates,  and  educated  in  the  parish 
of  St.  Clement,  near  Fyebridge,  under  William  his  father,  who 
lived  to  1516  and  to  the  40th  year  of  his  age,  and  Alice  his 
mother,  who  lived  to  a.d.  1553  and  to  the  83rd  year  of  her  age. 

'Thomas  Benis,  Bachelor  of 


Matthew- 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


"  He  was 
instructed 


in  reading:    1. 


in  writing :     2. 


in  singing 


in  grammar :  4. 


by  1 


Theology,  Eector  of  St. 
Clement's,  and  partly  by 
Richard  Pope,  priest. 

William  Prior,  clerk  of  the 
church  of  St.  Benedict. 

W.  Love,  priest;  E.  Man- 
thorp,  clerk  ;  of  St.  Ste- 
phen's— severe  teachers. 

William  Neve,  an  easy 
and  kind  schoolmaster." 


When  Matthew  was  only  twelve  years  of  age,  his  father  Death  of 
died.    This  severe  calamity  proved,  however,  to  be  a  loss  1516. 
not  irreparable,  since  his  mother,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years,  selected  for  her  second  husband  Mr.  Baker,  who 
loved  his  wife's  children,  and  watched  over  them  as  ten- 
derly as  over  his  own  only  son. 

John  Baker,  the  second  husband  of  Mrs.  Parker,  is  John 
simply  described  as  "  gentleman,"  by  which  we  are  pro-  stepfather. 
bably  to  understand,  that  although  he  was  not  a  landed 
proprietor,  he  was,  nevertheless,  not  engaged  in  trade.* 

*  "  As  for  gentlemen,"  says  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  "  they  be  made 
good  cheape  in  England.  For  who  soever  studieth  the  lawes  of  the 
realme,  who  studieth  in  the  Universities,  who  professeth  liberall 
Sciences :  and,  to  be  short,  who  can  live  idly,  and  without  manuall 
labour,  and  will  beare  the  port,  charge  and  countenance  of  a  Gentle- 
man, hee  shall  bee  called  master,  for  that  is  the  title  which  men  geve 
to  esquires  and  other  gentlemen,  and  shall  bee  taken  for  Gentlemen." — 
Smith's  Commonwealth  of  England.  According  to  Jacob,  in  his  Law 
Dictionary,  "  a  gentleman  may  be  defined  to  be  one  who,  without  any 


Matthew 

liM-76. 


8  LIVR8  OF  tin: 

(ii  \v.  By  her  second  husband,  the  mother  of  Matthew  Parker 
had  a  son.  John  Baker  by  name  To  this  half-brother, 
Matthew  became  much  attached,  and  found  in  him,  at  all 

limes,  a    sympathizing  friend,  ready  with  his   assistance 
whenever  it  was  required  and  could  be  had. 

It  was  the  custom  in  most  families  of  the  middle  class 
to  select  one  son  to  be  educated  as  a  scholar ;  and  it  is 
evident  that  Matthew's  father  had  destined  him  to  a 
university  education.  His  mother  determined  to  fulfil 
the  wishes  of  her  first  husband,  and  at  her  own  expense 
to  support  her  eldest  son  at  Cambridge. 
Goes  to  A  native  of  Norwich  had  certain  advantages  at  Cam- 

bridge.  bridge,  which  may  have  influenced  Matthew  Parker  to 
select  that  university  ;  and  one  of  his  masters  having  been 
educated  at  Bene't  College,  his  mother  may  have  been 
persuaded  by  him  to  enter  her  son  as  a  member  of  that 
house.  But  there  were  other  reasons  for  choosing  Cam- 
bridge. Whether  we  can  account  for  the  fact  or  not,  a 
fact  it  certainly  is,  that  almost  all  our  distinguished  men, 
state  of  at  this  period,  were  Cambridge  men.  Until  this  time, 
bridge.  Cambridge  had  occupied  a  very  secondary  place  among 
the  universities  of  Europe  as  compared  with  Oxford,  and 
the  name  of  this  university  was  little  known  on  the  Con- 
tinent at  a  time  when  Oxford  challenged  an  equality 
with   Paris  ;    but  during   the  early  days  of  the  Refor- 

title,  bears  a  coat  of  arms,  and  whose  ancestors  have  been  freemen ;  and 
by  the  coat  a  gentleman  giveth,  he  is  known  to  be,  or  not  to  be,  de- 
scended from  those  of  his  name  who  lived  many  hundred  years  ago." 
Selden,  in  his  Titles  of  Honour,  p.  705,  states  that  a  gentleman  is 
"  one  that,  either  from  the  blood  of  his  Ancestors,  or  the  favour  of  his 
Soveraign,  or  of  them  that  have  power  of  soveraignty  in  them,  or  from 
his  own  vertue,  employment  or  otherwise,  according  to  the  Laws  and " 
customs  of  honour  in  the  Country  we  speak  of,  is  ennobled,  and  made 
Gentile,  or  so  raised  to  an  eminency,  above  the  multitude,  perpetually 
inherent  in  his  person,  that  by  those  Laws  and  customs  he  be  truly 
Nobilis  or  noble,  whether  he  have  any  of  the  precedent  Titles  or  not." 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  0 

mation,  both  statesmen  and  divines  gave  the  preference     chap. 

to  Cambridge.     The  residence   of  Erasmus  at  this  uni-  < r — - 

versity  may  have  added  to  its  fame ;  but  the  question  Parker. 
recurs,  why  should  Erasmus  prefer  Cambridge  on  his  1559-75. 
second  visit  to  England,  when  at  his  first  visit  he  took 
up  his  abode  at  Oxford,  and  acknowledged  his  obliga- 
tions to  many  Oxford  scholars  ?  We  have  one  answer, 
doubtless,  in  the  fact  that  he  was  invited  to  Cambridge 
by  Bishop  Fisher  :  but  his  discomforts  were  great,  and 
he  complained  of  his  hard  fare,  and  that  "  the  ale  was 
raw,  small,  and  windy;"  he  declared  that  it  was  not  "vis 
Cereris,  but  Ceres  vitiated,  and  therefore  justly  called 
Cervesia."*  We  may  suspect  that,  under  such  circum- 
stances, the  Epicurean  scholar  would  have  removed  to  the 
more  luxurious  university,  if  there  had  not  been  some 
impediment  offered  to  his  removal.  This  impediment  we 
find  in  the  opposition  offered  at  Oxford  to  the  study  of 
Greek.  When  we  are  told  that  so  great  a  man  as  Sir 
Thomas  More  interfered  in  the  disputes  between  the 
Trojans  and  Greeks  at  Oxford,  we  may  fairly  conjecture 
that  these  disputes  were  more  than  "  a  university  row  " 
among  the  younger  members.  Other  circumstances,  too, 
may  induce  us  to  suppose  that  an  opposition  was  offered 
by  the  heads  of  colleges  to  an  innovation  which,  it  was 
asserted,  was  closely  connected  with  heresy.  At  Cam- 
bridge, undoubtedly,  the  study  of  Greek  literature  was 
encouraged,  and  at  the  same  time  a  spirit  in  favour  of  a 
reformation  of  the  Church  prevailed. 

There  is  some  difficulty  in  fixing  precisely  the   time  Date  of  his 
of  Matthew  Parker's  matriculation.     He  himself,  in  the  ktion. 

*  Fuller,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  pleasantry,  will  by  no 
means  admit  its  justice.  He  vindicates  the  character  of  Cambridge 
ale,  "  until  the  innovation  of  beer,  the  child  of  hops,  was  brought  into 
England." 


10  LIVKS    OF    THI-: 

ii  u\    memorandums  already  referred  to,  asserts  that  he  went  to 
^  Cambridge  on  the  8th  of  September,  1522.   Butthememo- 


jfite  randums,  as  we  have  observed,  were  made  from  recollee- 
;,..  linn  a!  a  later  period  of  life,  and  not  when  the  occurrenc 
actually  took  place.  His  memorandum  with  reference 
to  Cambridge  stands  thus:  "On  the  8th  of  September, 
1522,  about  the  seventeenth  year  of  my  age,  I  was  sent 
to  Cambridge,  by  the  help  of  Mr.  Bunge,  of  the  parish  of 
St.  George  ;  but  at  my  mother's  expense."  *  Mr.  Bunge 
used  his  influence  to  obtain  an  admission  for  the  young 
man  into  the  university  ;  but  Parker  is  careful  to  add,  that 
for  a  university  education  he  was  indebted  solely  to  his 
mother's  self-denying  generosity.  The  difficulty  which 
here  occurs  is  this,  that  in  the  year  1522,  young  Parker 
was  in  his  eighteenth  year,  not  in  his  seventeenth,  since 
he  was  born  in  August,  1504.  He  incidentally  supplies 
an  explanation.  Among  the  MSS.  of  C.  C.  C.  C.  there 
is  a  paper  by  Bishop  Gardyner,  to  which  Parker  appends 
the  following  note :  hoc  anno  in  festo  Nativitatis  Beatw 
Maria  M.  P.  accessit  Cantabrigiam.  Now  the  festival  to 
which  reference  is  here  made  certainly  falls  on  the  8th  of 
September,  but  this  document  is  dated  anno  millesimo 
guingentesimo  vicesimo  primo.  I 

I  think  that  I  can  show  cause  why  Parker,  writing 
towards  the  close  of  life,  should  make  this  mistake  ;  and  I 
do  so  to  point  out  how  the  veriest  trifles  may  be  of 
importance  in  history,  and  how  necessary  it  is  to  pay 
attention  to  minute  particulars.  On  referring  to  Hall's 
Chronicle,  I  find  that,  in  the  Lent  of  1521,  the  jail  fever 
made  its  appearance  in  Cambridge,  and  raged  to  such  an 

*  The  memorandum  is  in  Latin,  and  stands  thus:  a.d.  1522,  8 
Septem.  circa  annum  aetatis  mese  17,  missus  Cantabrigiam  opera 
Mri.  Bunge,  Parochiae  Sancti  Georgii,  sed  sumptibus  matris,  in  Colleg. 
Corporis  Christi. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  11 

extent,  proving  so  frequently  fatal,  not  only  to  the  pri- 
soners, but  to  a  vast  number  of  persons  in  the  town  and 
neighbourhood,  that,  in  order  to  escape  infection,  all  who 
had  the  means  made  their  escape  from  the  place.  That  1559-70. 
an  anxious  mother  would  recall  her  son  from  what  had 
become  a  pest-house,  almost  as  soon  as  he  had  reached 
his  destination,  we  may  feel  quite  certain  ;  and  we  shall 
not  be  far  wrong  if  we  presume  that  the  young  student 
matriculated  in  the  year  1521,  but  that  he  did  not  come 
into  residence  until  the  year  1522.* 

Matthew  Parker  was  admitted  a  member  of  Corpus 
Christi  College,  or,  as  it  was  generally  called  till  a  late 
period,  Bene't  College,  of  which  he  lived  to  become  a 
generous  benefactor,  f 

In  these  days,  a  college  in  a  university  is  regarded  as 
little  more  than  a  school  for  adults.  In  Parker's  time,  a 
college — being  thus  distinguished  from  a  monastery —  was 
regarded  as  a  society  of  secular  clerks  who  were  associated 
for  the  purpose  of  prosecuting  their  studies.  Some  lay 
members  were  admitted  to  manage  the  secular  business, 
and  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  the  institution.  The  income 
of  this  society  was  derived  from  landed  property,  held  upon 
certain  conditions,  among  which  was  the  education  of  a 
given  number  of  pupils,  who  were  to  receive  board  and 
lodging  within  the  precincts. 

In  the  middle  ages,  as  we  have  seen,  independent 
members, — persons  who,  without  being  attached  to  a 
college,  desired  to  attend  the  lectures  of  the  university, — 

*  See  MSS.  C.  C.  C.  C,  cvi.  Art.  63.  Strype  gives  the  date  1520, 
which  is  clearly  a  mistake. 

j"  This  college  acquired  the  name  of  Bene't  probably  from  its  vicinity 
to  the  church  of  that  name.  This  adventitious  title  was  admitted  even 
in  legal  documents,  whenever  the  college  was  styled  "  the  College  of 
Corpus  Christi  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  commonly  called  Bene't 
College."     Masters'  Hist,  of  Corpus  Christi  College. 


12  LIVES  OF  THE 

(  hap.  lodged  at  first  in  private  houses,  and  then  in  halls,  which 
„  \m  .,  were  placed  under  the  surveillaiice  of  the  university 
authorities.  When  it  was  found  that  this  arrangement 
was  insufficient  to  secure  the  proper  discipline,  colleges 
were  induced  to  receive  independent  members,  in  addition 
to  the  scholars  on  the  foundation.  This  arrangement  was 
found  to  be  profitable  ;  but  in  times  when  it  was  still 
difficult  to  maintain  discipline,*  and  when  there  was  small 
accommodation  for  students  not  on  the  foundation,  the 
fellows  were  accustomed  to  hire  or  purchase  a  hostel.  A 
hostel  is  described  as  a  convictorium,  or  boarding-house, 
over  which,  when  it  was  attached  to  a  college,  one  of  the 
fellows  presided,  and  where  lectures  were  given. 

Attached  to  Corpus  Christi  College  w^as  the  hostel  of 
St.  Mary,  and  here  young  Parker  at  first  took  up  his 
abode.f 

Although  he  complains  of  his  tutor,  Eobert  Cooper, 
that,  notwithstanding  his  being  a  master  of  arts,  he  was, 
nevertheless,  a  man  of  small  learning,  yet  Parker  laboured 
so  diligently  at  his  studies,  for  the  purpose  of  exonerating 
his  mother  from  the  expense  of  his  education,  that  so 
early  as  the  month  of  March,  1522-3,  he  obtained  a 
bible-clerkship  in  his  college.  This  bible-clerkship  was 
a  scholarship,  to  w7hich  certain  duties  wrere  attached.     It 


*  Flagellation  was  still  resorted  to.  Fuller  mentions  that  the  Lady- 
Margaret  being,  once  upon  a  time,  a  visitor  at  Christ's  College,  saw  the 
dean  of  the  college  administering  corporal  punishment  to  one  of  the 
members.  The  compassionate  princess  did  not  go  so  far  as  to  call 
upon  the  executioner  to  stop,  but  simply  exclaimed,  "  Lente !  " 
Fuller,  108. 

f  Masters,  in  his  history  of  the  college,  p.  74,  throws  a  doubt  upon 
the  fact  of  Parker's  residence  in  the  hotel.  He  surely  cannot  have 
read,  or  he  had  rather  forgotten,  that  Parker,  in  his  biographical  memo- 
randums, unequivocally  declares  the  fact :  "  Edoctus  partim  in  Hospitio 
Divae  Maris;  partim  in  Collegio  (Corporis)  Christi." 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  13 

had  been   founded,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.,  by  the     char 

Duchess  of  Norfolk — a  lady  to  whose  munificence   the  > — ^ - 

college  was  in  other  respects  indebted.     Parker  now  re-     ParkerT 
moved  into  the  college.  1559-75. 

It  is  said  of  Parker,  that  from  the  commencement  of 
his  university  career,  he  was  "  a  painful  student."  But 
public  examinations  had  become  a  mere  formality ;  and 
the  consequence  was,  that  every  student  shaped  his  studies 
according  to  his  inclination,  and  with  a  view  to  what 
would  be  serviceable  to  him  in  after  life.  The  old  uni- 
versity system,  which  in  former  times  had  answered  its 
purpose  by  enforcing  mental  exertion,  had  now  become 
obsolete ;  and  when  the  whole  field  of  literature  was  in  a 
transitional  state,  no  new  system  had  been  authoritatively 
adopted.  The  condition  of  the  university  when  Parker 
came  into  residence,  was  not  unlike  that  which  is  repre- 
sented as  its  condition  towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Certain  formal  exercises  were  required  of  the 
candidates  for  a  degree  ;  but  the  examination  was  con- 
ducted,— not  with  alarming  severity, — by  masters  of  arts 
selected  by  the  person  who  presented  himself  for  examin- 
ation. Idleness  met  with  no  punishment.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  when  a  young  man  desired  to  make  himself 
a  proficient  in  any  department  of  human  learning,  he  was 
sure  to  find  learned  men  ready  and  happy  to  assist  him. 
Every  facility  for  his  improvement  was  offered  him  :  there 
were  public  lectures  delivered  from  time  to  time  by 
accomplished  professors ;  libraries  were  open  to  him — a 
vast  advantage  when  books  were  rare  and  dear  ;  and  he 
associated  with  some  of  the  first  wits  of  the  age. 

Hence  it  came  to  pass,  that  in  the  sixteenth,  as  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  the  university  could  produce 
the  most  opposite  characters.  Men  who  in  after  life 
proved,  owing  to  their  youthful  idleness,  to  be  disqualified 


1  1  uvi:s  of  THE 

chap,     for  the  discharge  of  the  duties  which,  from  circumstances, 

-    might  devolve  upon  them,  threw  the  blame  from  them- 

Park«r.     selves  upon  the  university.     Even  if  by  later  studies  they 

had  remedied  past  deficiencies,  they  would   exaggerate 

their  own  merits  by  depreciating  the  university,  to  which, 
as   they    could    make   it   appear,    they   owed    nothing 
Whereas,  on    the    other   hand,  those  who — like  Parker 
and  others  among  his  contemporaries — had  resisted  every 
temptation  to  idleness,  and  had  mastered  all  the  learning 
of  the  age,  would  refer  with  gratitude  to  the  happy  days 
they  passed,  when,  assisted  and  assisting,  they  received  in- 
struction from  their  elders  to  impart  it  to  the  younger 
members  of  the  community ;  when,  in  the  midst  of  friendly 
intercourse,   they   could  understand  experimentally    th 
saying  of  the  wise  man  :  "  Iron  sharpeneth  iron ;  so 
man  sharpeneth  the  countenance  of  his  friend."* 

It  was  the  characteristic  of  Parker's  mind  to  do  wha 
his  hand  found  to  do  with  his  might.  He  therefore 
directed  his  attention  to  dialectics  and  philosophy,  and, 
by  so  doing,  he  subjected  his  mind  to  a  discipline  most 
important  in  a  controversial  age.  The  soil  was  ploughed 
and  drilled,  as  it  were,  and  so  prepared  for  the  sowing  of 
intellectual  seed,  when  he  directed  his  attention  to  theo- 
logical study.  His  philosophical  studies  included  the 
works  of  Duns  Scotus  and  Thomas  Aquinas ;  and  these 
studies  implied  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  Scripture. 
ra.  1526.  He  took  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1525  ;  and  on 
T^2g.  tne  22nd  of  December  in  the  following  year,  he  became 


! 


con 


^iT'Tie^t    a  subdeacon.     He  was  ordained  deacon  on  the  20th  of 
1M7.         April,  and  priest  on  the  15th  of  June,  1527. 

Antecedently  to  his  ordination  he  returned  to  his  home 
at  Norwich,  and  it  was  under  the  title  of  "Barwell  and 

*  Proverbs  xxvii.  17. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF    CANTERBURY.  15 

the  Chapel  in  the  Fields  "  that  he  commenced  his  pastoral 
labours. 

That  Parker  was  early  distinguished  as  a  scholar  is  ap-  p^ker* 
parent  from  the  fact,  that,  when  he  was  only  a  young  man,  1559-7.3. 
two  or  three  and  twenty  years  of  age,  he  was  one  of  the 
Cambridge  men  who  were  selected  to  hold  office  in  the 
new  college  which  Cardinal  Wolsey  was  founding  at  Ox- 
ford. Parker  was  not  an  ambitious  man,  and  preferred 
remaining  at  Cambridge,  where  a  fellowship  in  his  own 
college  was  contemporaneously  offered  for  his  acceptance. 
Although,  as  has  been  said,  he  was  not  ambitious  of  a 
high  position,  he  always  desired  to  excel,  and  to  take  the 
lead  in  any  department  of  human  exertion  to  which  he 
might  be  called  ;  he  therefore  now  devoted  himself  to  the 
service  of  the  college  and  university,  to  which  he  became 
attached. 

About  the  time  of  his  election  to  his  fellowship,  he  took 
his  degree   of  Master   of  Arts :  the   exact  date  of  his 
degree  has  not  been  ascertained,  but  it  was  probably  in 
the  summer  of  1528.     From  this  time,  he  devoted  him-  MA.  1528. 
self  to  theological  studies ;  but  he  did  not  graduate  in 
divinity  till  the  14th  of  July,  1535,  and  he  deferred  taking  b.d.  1535. 
his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  till  the   1st  of  July,  d.d.  1538. 
1538. 

Long  before  that  event,  he  had,  however,  established  a 
high  character  as  a  preacher.  He  had  been  introduced 
to  court,  and  was  now  regarded  as  a  rising  man. 

The  narrative  of  these  events,  and  an  account  of  his 
studies  in  divinity  will  be  reserved  for  separate  chapters. 
We  shall,  at  present,  confine  attention  to  his  academical 
career,  both  in  his  college  and  in  the  university. 

The  mastership  of  his  college  became  vacant  in  1544,  Master  of 

...  the  col- 

by  the  death    of  William    Soworde,    B.D.,    and,  under  iege.  io«. 


16  uvi:s  OP  THE 

royal    mandate,    Matthew    Parker    was    appointed  hi; 


successor.* 


In   this  document,  Parker  is  described  as  a  man 

well  for  his  approved  learning,  wisdom,  and  honesty,  ai 

for  hifl  singular  grace  and  industry  in  bringing  up  youth 

in  virtue  and  learning,  so  apt  for  the  exercise  of  the  said 

room  " — i.e.  mastership — "  that  it  is  thought  very  hard  to 

find  the  like  for  all  respects  and  purposes." 

on-  In  the  measures  proposed  for  the  improvement  of  the 

,t-    college,  the  new  master  found  his  fellows  prepared  to  co- 

hiseoi!^-.  operate,  and  he  instantly  commenced  his  work  of  reform. 

For  the  better  management  of  the  benefactions  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  the  college,  regulations  were  speedily 
adopted.  Among  these  may  be  noted  "  Billingford's 
hutch,"  or  chest,  a  fund  to  assist  the  needy  members  of 
the  college  by  an  occasional  loan,  to  be  advanced  under 
certain  stipulations.  This  is  specially  noticed,  because  it 
affords  an  instance  of  the  watchful  piety  of  Matthew 
Parker.  He  required  that  every  one  who  should  have 
recourse  to  the  hutch,  should  offer  up  a  prayer  with 
the  custodians,  for  the  benefit  of  Billingford's  soul.  At 
this  time,  when  prayers  for  the  dead  were  allowable,  he 
did  not  forget  his  own  especial  benefactress,  the  Duchess 
of  Norfolk,  nor  her  sister  the  Lady  Eleanor  Butler. 
He  made  provision  that  she  who  had  endowed  the 
bible-clerkship,  which  had  offered  to  him  the  first  step  on 
the  ladder  of  promotion,  should  be  remembered  in  the 
prayers  of  that  community  which  had  been  enriched 
by  her  munificence.     The  accounts  of  the  college  were  in 

*  The  king's  letter  is  still    preserved.     The  royal  signature  *n 
affixed  to  it  by  a  stamp.      MS.  cxiv.  2,  Nasmith.     It  is  printed  in 
note  to  Masters'  history  of  the  college,  and  in  the  Appendix  to  Strype. 
For  all  that  relates  to  Corpus  Christi    College,  the  reader  is  referred 
to  Masters  and  Lamb;  and,  for  an  account  of  the  original  documents, 
Nasmith. 


2/) 


■ 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  17 

great  confusion,  and  the  first  step  taken  by  Parker  was  to     chap. 

reduce  them  to  order.  The  sources  of  the  collegiate  income  * ^ . 

he  carefully  investigated,  and  economically  regulated  paikerW' 
the  expenses.  He  discovered  arrears  of  rent,  and  much  1559-75. 
property  lost  by  the  carelessness  or  peculation  of  bursars 
in  times  past  he  reclaimed.  Inventories  of  the  college 
possessions  were  made  under  his  direction,  and  account 
books  are  still  in  existence,  which,  written  by  his  own 
hand,  or  engrossed  under  his  direction,  are  living  attest- 
ations of  his  accuracy.  When  the  accounts  were  reduced 
to  order,  the  income  of  the  college  was  found  to  be  as 

follows : — 

Corpus  Christi  College.* 

The  master,  for  stipend  and  commons     . 
Nine  fellows,  of  whom  eight  are  priests,  who 

have  each  per  annum  51.  6s.  Sd.,  and  one 

not  priest,  4d.  ..... 

Three  bible-clerks,  21.  per  annum  each  . 
Ministers,   namely,   manciple,   for    commons, 

21.  3s.  4cL,  and  stipend,  6s.  Sd.     Cook,  for 

commons,  21.    3s.  4c#.,   and   for  stipend, 

6s.  Sd 5     0     0 

Distributions   annually    between    the   master 

and  fellows  for  their  liveries  .  .  .600 
Exequies,  alms,  and  refections  .  .  .  10  2  3 
Fees,  namely  of  Mr.  Cooke  (steward  of  all  the 

possessions),  13s.  4d.     Collector   of  the 

rents,  21.     Surveyor  of  all  the  possessions, 

Zl.  6s.  Sd 6     0     0 

Expenses  extraordinary,  51.   Fuel,  21.   Purchase 

of  utensils,  2l.  10s.     Kepairs,  961.  3s.  4d.   105  13     4 

Total 192     2     3 

Total  of  the  clear  revenues  .         .171     7     6 

So    the   total   expenses    exceed    the    total 

revenue      ......  £20  14     9 


£       s. 

d. 

6  13 

4 

46  13 

4 

6     0 

0 

*  Masters'  History  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  App.  No.  21. 
VOL.  IX.  C 


18  lives  of  Tin: 

CHAP.  He  was  economical  in  order  that  lie  might  be  gene- 
_^ — »  rous,  and  incited  his  brethren  to  acts  of  munificence  by 
PtakST  his  own  example.  Having,  by  his  industry  and  firmness, 
1559-75.  increased  the  income  of  the  college,  instead  of  adding  that 
increased  income  to  the  dividends  of  the  existing  members, 
lie  persuaded  his  brethren  to  establish  two  new  fellowships 
and  six  scholarships.  It  certainly  is  interesting,  and  it 
may  be  of  some  importance,  to  know  what  was  con- 
sidered in  those  days  a  sufficient  endowment,  or  nearly  so, 
in  the  University  of  Cambridge.  Accordingly,  I  have  to 
remark  that  each  scholar  had  for  his  commons  an  allow- 
ance of  eightpence  a  week,  which  was  afterwards  aug- 
mented to  a  shilling,  with  a  small  additional  allowance 
per  annum  for  his  laundress  and  his  barber.  He  had  a 
chamber  provided  for  him,  and  was  exonerated  from  the 
payment  of  college  fees.*  Candidates  for  the  new  scholar- 
ships were  to  be  competently  learned  in  grammar,  and 
a  preference  was  to  be  given  to  the  poorest  children, 
provided  they  were  likely  to  proceed  in  arts,  and  to  make 
divinity  their  study.  In  addition  to  what  was  done  by 
the  college,  Parker,  out  of  his  private  resources,  endowed 
two  fellowships  and  five  scholarships.  Each  fellow  was 
to  have  six  pounds  a  year  for  his  stipend,  and  chambers 
were  provided  for  him.  The  fellows  were  to  be  Norfolk 
men,  and  were  to  undertake  gratuitously  the  instruction 
of  scholars  who  came  from  Norwich. 

In  the  fellowships  endowed  by  the  college  he  secured 
a  preference  for  Norfolk  men,  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
from  that  county  most  of  the  benefactors  of  that  college 
came.     By  those  who  like  to  speak  disparagingly  of  every 

*  Of  the  establishment  of  a  professor  we  have  an  account  in  Strype's 
Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Smith.  We  are  told  that  Smith  kept  three  servants, 
three  guns,  three  winter  geldings,  which,  together  with  his  own  board, 
cost  him  thirty  pounds  a  year. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  19 

generous  action,  Parker  was  sneered  at  for  having  be-Nor-     chap. 
folked  his  college ;  but  Fuller,  in  his  usual  quaint  style,  .    V"  _, 

*  observes,  "  The  worst  I  can  wish  this  college  is,  that  they  bS^* 
may  have  the  like  benefactor,  who,  on  the  same  terms,  1559-75. 
may  be  partial  to  the  same  college."  If  it  were  intended 
to  insinuate  that  his  attachment  to  his  native  place — that 
kind  of  feeling  which  our  ancestors  delighted  to  cultivate 
as  the  germ  of  patriotism — implied  any  narrowness  of 
mind  on  the  part  of  Parker,  the  calumny  is  refuted  by  the 
fact,  that  he  gave  63/.  13s.  M.  to  Gonville  and  Caius 
College  for  the  maintenance  of  a  student  educated  in  the 
Cathedral  School  of  Canterbury,  at  the  nomination  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury :  to  this  he  added  both 
plate  and  books.  A  similar  sum,  with  plate  and  books,  he 
conferred  on  Trinity  Hall. 

The  wisdom  with  which  his  benevolence  was  directed,  Founds 
was  exemplified  in  the  regulations  he  made  with  reference  library. 
to  his  greatest  benefaction, — the  library  which  he  instituted 
in  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  and  which  is  cele- 
brated not  only  in  England,  but  throughout  the  civilized 
world. 

It  must  indeed  in  justice  be  admitted,  that  he  was  not 
the  first  to  found  a  library  in  his  college ;  but  when  we 
refer  to  the  library  bequeathed  to  the  college  by  Dr. 
Markaunt,  in  1417,  we  must  add  that,  although  the  legacy 
was  peculiarly  valuable,  considering  the  age  in  which  it 
was  made,  Dr.  Markaunt's  bequest  only  amounted  to 
seventy-six  volumes.  To  this  an  addition  was  made  by 
the  liberality  of  Dr.  Nobys ;  but  the  whole  library  was 
in  such  a  dilapidated  state  when  Dr.  Parker  became 
master,  that  of  the  present  library  he  may  be  regarded  as 
the  founder.  By  him  the  keepers  of  Billingford's  hutch 
were  made  the  custodians  of  the  library  ;  and  he  ordered 
that  if  the  chains  which  attached  the  books  to  the  desks 

c  2 


ngnla 

tiuns. 


I 

S 

I 

e 

i 


LIVES  OF  THE 

OHAP,     were  broken,  or  any  damage  were  done  to  the  books, 
_.  chains  and   book-  were  to  be   repaired  at  the   college 

Matthew 

Parker,      expense. 

The  monastic  libraries  had  been  damaged,  when  no 
destroyed,  by  mobs,  seeking  plunder  with  the  cant  o 
reformation  on  their  lips.  When  the  jewelled  and  cm 
bossed  bindings  had  been  torn  from  the  books,  the  books 
themselves  could  be  purchased  at  small  price.  Parker 
availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  thus  placed  within  hi 
reach,  to  make  a  collection  of  MSS.  and  printed  books 
These,  when  bequeathed  to  his  college,  formed,  in  the 
words  of  Fuller,  "  the  sun  of  English  antiquity,  until  it 
was  eclipsed  by  Sir  Eobert  Cotton."  To  the  works  con- 
tained in  this  library  we  are  indebted  for  the  chief  mat 
rials  of  English  history,  civil  and  ecclesiastical.  Some  o 
the  most  valuable  of  the  documents  are  now  in  print ; 
but  the  originals  are  carefully  preserved  for  collation,  as 
Library  well  as  for  the  inspection,  of  archaeologists.  The  stringent 
regulations  made  by  Parker  for  the  preservation  of  his 
library  are  many  of  them  still  in  force,  and  the  suc- 
cessive masters  and  fellows  of  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge,  have  proved  themselves  worthy  of  the  trea- 
sures committed  to  their  care.  The  college  is  honourably 
spoken  of  by  grateful  students,  for  the  courtesy  shown, 
and  the  facilities  afforded  to  them  in  their  investigations. 

Dr.  Parker  attended  to  the  comforts  of  the  college  by 
giving,  for  the  support  of  the  hall-fire  from  the  feast  of 
All  Saints  to  Candlemass,  no  less  a  sum  than  a  hundred 
pounds.  He  obtained  a  licence  of  mortmain  for  enabling 
them  to  hold  a  hundred  pounds  per  annum  more  than 
they  were  at  that  time  possessed  of,  and  fitted  up 
chambers  in  the  college  for  the  scholarships  by  him  en- 
dowed. He  added  four  hundred  pounds  for  the  increase 
of  the  commons  of  the  master,  fellows,  and  scholars ;  an 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF    CANTERBURY.  21 

he  undertook,  at  his  sole  charge,  so  many  public  works,     chap. 

that  he  received  a  vote  of  thanks  from  the  vice-chancellor  . /  ,; 

and  the  senate.  Parker!" 

It  is  only  just  to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Parker  to  mention    1559-75. 
these  things,  because,  by  writers  who  have  "  evil-will  at 
our  Zion,"  he  is  sometimes  mentioned  as  grasping  and 
avaricious. 

That  he  was  economical,  as  most  persons  who  have 
afforded  to  be  public  benefactors  have  certainly  been,  is 
not  to  be  denied ;  and  when  his  undoubted  property  was 
sometimes  withheld  from  him  by  the  despotism  of  Elizabeth 
and  the  mean  arts  of  her  courtiers,  he  was  obliged  to  con- 
tend vigorously  for  his  rights.  But  let  his  actions  speak 
for  themselves. 

After  mentioning  his  munificence,  as  evinced  not  only  Benefac- 
to  Corpus  Christi  College  and  the  University  of  Cambridge  canter- 
generally,  Masters  refers  to  his  benefactions  to  Canterbury  ^J^^jf 
and  Norwich,  and  continues  : — 

"  As  a  further  specimen  of  his  bounty  to  the  corporation  of 
Norwich,  he  gave  them  a  magnificent  gilt  bason  and  ewer, 
weighing  175  oz. ;  in  acknowledgment  of  which,  with  his 
many  other  singular  favours  conferred  upon  them,  they  sent 
him  a  letter  of  thanks,  and  at  the  same  time  entered  into  a 
covenant  with  this  society,  whereby  they  bound  themselves, 
under  a  penalty  of  100?.,  never  to  alienate  it,  unless  in  a  case 
of  urgent  necessity,  and  then  not  without  the  approbation  of 
the  masters  of  this  college  and  of  Trinity  Hall.  The  two 
colleges  gave  bonds  in  like  manner,  of  20?.  each,  for  their  cups 
and  covers ;  yea,  such  was  his  liberality,  that,  within  the  four 
first  years  after  his  advancement,  he  gave  the  servants  of  his 
household,  in  leases  of  lands,  rectories,  &c,  1,291?.  13s.  4c?. 
beyond  his  yearly  gifts  amongst  them,  amounting  to  2,01 7?. 
His  foundations  of  fellowships,  scholarships,  increase  of  com- 
mons, &c,  cost  him  2,000?.,  whilst  his  yearly  disbursements 
were  2,400?.     He  gave  Nevile    100?.  for  his  book,  laid   out 


22  LIVES  OF  Tin: 

(HAP.      500Z.  upon  the  University  Street,  and  1,400£.  upon  his  palaces, 
when  the  value  of  the  archbishopric  did  not  exceed  3,428£.  per 


v. 


Matthew    annum.     All  his  ijoods  and  chattels,  at  the  time  of  his  death, 

Parker. 

amounted  to  no  more  than  2,766L;  whereas  his  legacies,  funeral 
charges,  debts,  &c,  exceeded  3,376Z.,  which  deficiency  was  made 


1559-75. 


up  by  his  son  out  of  the  estate  he  left  behind :  but  the  whole 
produce  of  this  not  being  much  above  a  hundred  pounds 
a  year,  he  was  put  to  difficulties  in  doing  it;  as  it  appears 
both  from  the  smallness  of  the  sums  the  college  was  obliged 
accept,  and  from  the  time  he  took  to  pay  in  the  remainder 
the  five  hundred  pounds  that  was  unpaid  at  his  father's  deat 
Yea,  such  was  his  dilatoriness  herein,  that,  by  reason  thereof, 
they  were  once  forced  to  borrow  fifty  pounds  of  Dr.  Hatcher 
upon  a  pawn  of  their  plate."  * 


re, 

I 


Such  was  Parker  as  the  head  of  a  house.     We  procee 
to  offer  some  remarks  upon  his  conduct  to  the  university 
in  general.     Soon  after  his  appointment  as  master  of  his 

Vice-chan-  college,   he   became   vice-chancellor   of    the  university. 

SJJ!  °       The  communication  was  made  to  him  by  his  friend,  Dr. 

Jjjgj  Mere,  in  January,  1544-5.f  Dr.  Mere  states,  that  th< 
proctors  were  very  desirous  that  he  should  return  home,  as 
soon  as  possible,  to  undergo  the  formalities  of  admission. 
He  mentions  that  there  was  a  canvass  for  Dr.  Eidlev  and 
Dr.  Standish,  but  their  interest  was  divided  by  the  ap- 
pearance in  the  field  of  Mr.  Atkinson,  the  vice-provost 
of  King's  College.  It  appears  from  the  voting  paper  that 
the  votes  were,  for  Eidley,  five  ;  for  Atkinson,  six  ;  for 
Standish,  eight ;  for  Parker,  seventy-nine.  Dr.  Mere  con- 
cludes his  letter  thus  :  "  I  pray  you  have  me  commended 
to  Mr.  Baker,  both  young  and  old,  to  your  brother 
Thomas,  and  all  their  wives."  There  is  a  letter,  in  the 
handwriting  of  Mere,  announcing  Parker's  re-election  in 

*  Masters'  History  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  p.  108. 
|  I  infer  the  date  of  the  letter  from  the  voting  paper  appended  to 
it.     Corresp.  p.  19. 


ARCHBISHOrS   OF   CANTERBURY.  23 

February,  1547-8.    It  is  amusing,  from  the  incidental  in-     chap. 

formation  it  conveys.     He  informs  Parker  that  he  was  « -^ - 

elected   almost   unanimi   consensu.     He   adds :    "  Many    parked 
more  long  for  your  coming,  and  most  more  wishing  that    1559-75. 

ye  will  in  any  wise  take  it.     Mr. *  would  have  had  f^lf®^' 

you  to  supper  on  Thursday,  for  it  was  a  play ;  on 
Friday  likewise,  a  tragedy ;  and  then  very  earnestly  he 
wished  you.  He  had  at  his  drinking,  wmich  was  with 
jowls  of  fresh  salmon,  &c,  Drs.  Eedmand,  Glyn,  Hatcher, 
Mr.  Sands,  Grindal,  the  Minor  Proctor,  Masters  Pilkington, 
Christopherson,  Gonell,  and  Aylond."f  I  give  these 
names,  denoting  the  associates  of  Parker  at  this  time,  as 
most  of  them,  at  a  later  period,  rose  to  distinction. 

Parker's  health  was  never  good,  and  on  that  account 
he  received  a  dispensation  enabling  him  to  eat  meat  in 
Lent.  Dr.  May,  through  whom  the  dispensation  was 
obtained,  observes  :  "  Your  sickness  is  sufficient  licence 
and  dispensation  for  you  to  receive,  absque  scandalo,  that 
meat  which  is  most  meet  for  you."  J 

From  that  time  Dr.  Parker  was  always  ready  to  show 
his  hospitality.  We  read  of  his  entertaining  the  visitors 
in  Edward  the  Sixth's  time,  when  supplying  the  place  of 
the  vice-chancellor  for  the  time  being. 

But  he  had,  through  the  divided  state  of  the  university,  Contro- 
many  difficulties  to  contend  with.     Soon  after  his   first  Bishop 
appointment   as  vice-chancellor,  he  wras  involved  in  a     ar  }n€ 
controversy  with  Bishop  Gardyner  on  the  subject  of  a 
play  which  had  been  acted  in  the  university.     He  was 
accused   by   Cuthbert  Scott,  who,    under  Queen  Mary, 
became  Bishop  of  Chester,  of  permitting  some    of  the 
essentials  of  religion  to  be  turned  into  ridicule.     This 
had  been  frequently  done  in  the  satirical  plays  permitted 

*  This  name  has  been  erased  in  the  MS. 

t  Corresp.  p.  37.  %  Ibid.  p.  38. 


24  LIVBS  of  tin: 

cii  \r.     and  encouraged    by    Crumwell   in   London;    but   there 

_); appears  to   have   been   no   fair  ground  of  objection  in 

FutaT  fl^  present  case.  Some  follies  of  the  monks  and  some 
1559-75.  superstitions  were  exposed,  but  care  had  been  taken 
to  avoid  anything  approaching  blasphemy. 

Parker  observed,  that  he  had  "  used  the  wisdom  of  the 
doctors  and  presidents  of  all  the  colleges  of  the  university 
for  the  trial  of  the  truth  concerning  the  tragedy."  The 
fellows  of  every  college  were  consulted,  and  by  their  ver- 
dict Parker  was  acquitted  of  all  blame. 

In  Cuthbert  Scott's  own  college,  only  one  of  the  fellows 
was  found  to  support  him. 

The  haughty  spirit  of  Gardyner  could  ill  brook  oppo- 
sition, and  he  brought  this  trifling  affair  under  the  cog- 
nizance of  the  Privy  Council.  In  the  mildness  of  the 
Council's  rebuke  we  may  suspect  an  implied  censure  on 
the  irate  chancellor  himself.  They  simply  admonished 
the  "  heads  and  governors  of  the  university  to  act  with 
greater  precaution  for  the  future."  * 

Gardyner,  mortified  by  the  little  weight  he  possessed 
at  Cambridge,  determined  to  enforce  by  authority  what 
he  could  not  win  by  influence.  He  had  now  recourse  to 
a  railing  accusation,  evidently  for  the  purpose  of  irritating 
his  opponents.  Writing  to  Parker,  he  says  :  "  I  hear  many 
things  to  be  very  far  out  of  order,  both  openly  in  the  uni- 
versity and  severally  in  the  colleges  ;  whereof  I  am  sorry  ; 
and  amongst  other,  in  contempt  of  me,  the  determination 
of  the  pronunciation  of  certain  Grece  letters  agreed  unto 
by  the  whole  university  to  be  violate  and  broken  without 
any  correction  therefor.  The  motive  is  low,  and  the  con- 
tempt so  much  the  more.  I  was  chosen  chancellor,  to  be 
so  honoured  (although  above  my  deserts)  of  them,  and  I 

*  Documents,  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  p.  53. 


I 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  25 

have  given  no  cause  to  be  despised.    I  will  do  that  I  can    chap. 

for  the  maintenance  of  good  order  there,  and  challenge  . ; . 

again  of  duty  to  be  regarded  after  the  proportion,  not  of    parked 
my  qualities,  but  of  mine  office."  *  1569-75. 

The  chancellor's  style  is  so  confused,  that  we  can  only 
arrive  at  its  general  meaning.  He  refers  to  a  controversy 
then  in  progress,  and  in  which  he  had  already  com- 
mitted himself,  on  the  proper  mode  of  pronouncing  the 
Greek  language.  The  few  scholars  who  studied  Greek  at  iotacists 
this  time  in  Cambridge,  were  divided  into  two  parties,  the 
Itacists  and  the  Etists.f  The  Itacists  represented  the  ori- 
ginal Greek  scholars,  who  were  taught  by  modern  Greeks, 
and  pronounced  the  language  according  to  accent,  and 
as  the  living  tongue  is  still  spoken.  The  Etists  claimed 
for  their  leader  no  less  a  scholar  than  Erasmus,  and  he 
was  followed  by  Sir  Thomas  Smith  and  Sir  John  Cheke, 
who  were  the  friends,  and  in  some  sense  the  pupils,  of 
Parker.  About  two  years  before  his  dispute  with  the 
latter,  Gardyner,  who  now  alluded  to  the  controversy,  as 
an  indirect  mode  of  attacking  and  annoying  his  vice- 
chancellor,  had  adopted  a  method  of  settling  the  dispute, 
which,  if  generally  adopted,  would  easily  settle  all  disputes. 

His  letter  to  a  predecessor  of  Parkers,  while  it  exhibits 

*  Documents,  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  p.  56.  I  shall 
have  presently  to  mention  some  acts  of  kindness  on  the  part  of 
Gardyner  to  men  of  the  party  of  the  Reformation.  Gardyner  was 
evidently  an  overbearing  man,  who  resented  the  slightest  opposition  to 
his  will  or  opinions ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  to  those  who  yielded  to 
him  and  courted  him,  he  was  kind  and  gracious.  The  two  characters 
are  quite  compatible;  but,  as  men  remember  injuries  longer  than  they 
remember  kindnesses,  he  was  one  of  the  most  unpopular  men  of  the  age. 
In  the  life  of  Pole,  I  have  shown  that  his  character  was  not  so  bad  as 
is  represented  by  Foxe  and  the  historians  who  blindly  followed  the 
martyrologist. 

t  Tims  I  find  the  word ;  but  surely  they  ought  to  have  styled  them- 
selves Iotacists. 


26  uvks  OF  Tin; 

(  ii  it.     (Janlyncr  as  a  scholar,  is  characteristic  of  the  man  wl 
— ^ — ■  wrote  it,  and  of  the  age  in  which  it  was  written: — 

Matthew 

"The  last  \cn',  by  consent  of  the  hoi  imiversitie,  I  made  a 

ordre  concernying  pronounciation  of  the  Greke  tonge,  appoynt- 
lug  paynes  to  the  transgressors,  and  finally  to  the  Vicechaun- 
celer  if  he  sawe  them  not  executed,  wherein  I  praye  youe  be 
persuaded,  that  I  will  not  be  deluded  and  contempned.  I  did 
it  seriously,  and  wyl  mayntayne  it.  If  youe  see  the  trans- 
gressors punished  I  have  cause  to  be  contented,  but  otherwise 
I  entende  in  your  and  in  the  proctour's  persons  to  use  myne 
authoritie  given  me  by  the  universitie  whereunto  I  trust  ye 
will  not  enforce  me.  To  be  chaunceler  of  the  universitie  is 
oonly  honour  which  by  contempt  is  taken  awaye,  and  I  wyl  be 
ware  to  give  any  man  cause  to  contempne  me.  What  in- 
formation I  have  I  wyll  not  wryte;  but  by  that  I  shall  see 
from  henceforth  I  wyl  byleve  that  is  past.  How  necessary  it 
is  to  brydle  the  arrogance  of  youngest  the  experience  of  your 
yeres  hath  I  doubt  not  taught  youe,  and  it  wold  much  greve 
me  privately  to  have  any  varyance  with  youe  with  whom  I 
have  had  soo  olde  acquayntance.  Which  cannot  be  if  ye 
suffre  them  not  by  tolleration  to  hope  more  of  youe  thenne  ye 
wold  avowe  they  shulde.  The  Kinges  Majestie  hath,  by  the 
inspiration  of  the  Holy  (roost,  componed  all  maturs  of  religion, 
which  uniformities  I  pray  Grod  it  maye  in  that  and  in  all  other 
t hinges  extende  unto  us,  and  forgetting  all  that  is  past  goo 
forth  in  agrement  as  Siough  ther  had  been  noo  such  matur ; 
but  I  wyl  withstande  fancies  even  in  pronunciation,  and  fight 
with  the  enemye  of  quiet  at  the  first  entree.  Wherefore  I 
praye  youe,  Master  Vicechaunceler,  loke  ernestly  on  these 
matures,  and  geve  me  cause  by  your  industrie  to  rejoyse  in  the 
universitie,  and  oonly  to  care  for  acquyeting  our  materes  with 
the  towne,  wherein  I  trust  we  shal  have  good  speede  by  the 
grace  of  Grod,  who  sende  youe  hartely  well  to  fare. 
"  At  the  courte  the  xvth  of  Maye. 

"  Your  assured  loving  Frende, 

"  Ste.  Winton."  * 
*  Documents,  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  p.  44. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  27 

The  authority  of  Gardyner  was  quietly  ignored.  chap. 

While  he  was  vice-chancellor,  Parker  was  brought  into    , — J. — % 
correspondence  with  the  Bishop  of  London,  Dr.  Bonner,     parked 
Bishop  Bonner  made  complaint  that,  among  the  graduates    1559-75. 
of  Cambridge,  scarcely  any  of  late  years  had  proffered  ^^f^ 
their  services  to  preach  at  Paul's  Cross ;  "  whereof,"  he  ^am" 
says,  "  I  greatly  marvel,  and  suppose  the  same  rather  to 
proceed  for  that  they  have  not  been  specially  incited  there- 
unto.    I  thought  it  good,  for  the  honest  love  particularly 
I  bear  to  you  for  your  good  qualities,  besides  the  love  I 
bear  to  you  for  your  brother's  sake,  and  also  for  the  very 
hearty  affection  I  bear  to  your  university,  to  write  unto* 
you  hereby,  that  ye  will  exhort  such  as  ye  know  apt  and 
meet  for  that  purpose." 

Bonner  was  at  this  time  a  more  advanced  Protestant 
than  Parker.  Being  suspected  of  Eomanizing  tendencies 
by  Henry  VIII. ,  he  vindicated  his  character  in  a  preface 
to  Gardyner 's  work,  Be  vera  Obedientia.  In  this  he 
declares  "  the  Pope's  pay  in  England  to  be  almost  as  great 
as  the  revenues  of  the  crown ; "  and  he  remarks,  that 
although  "  the  Pope  was  a  very  ravening  wolf  dressed  in 
sheep's  clothing,  yet  he  assumed  the  title  of  servant  of 
the  servants  of  God."* 

At  this  time  the  courtiers  of  Henry  VIII.  began  to  cast  Property 
greedy   eyes  upon  the  property  of  the   university  and  university 
of  the  colleges.     The   king  was  solicited  to  appoint   a  ^*j*- 
commission,  under  the  act  for  the  dissolution   of  chan- 
tries   and   hospitals,    with  the  view  of  ascertaining  the 
nature  and  extent  of  the  collegiate  property,  in  the  hope 
that  some  of  his  courtiers  might  obtain  a  portion  of  the 
landed  estates  as  a  grant  from  the  crown,  or  in  exchange 
for  impropriated  tithes.     The  alarm  felt  in  the  university 

*  See  the  preface,  and  statements  to  the  same  effect,  Hooper's  Works, 
ii.  268,  557,  567.     Jewel,  Works,  i.  34,  60,  ed.  Park.  Soc. 


I 


28  LIVKS  OF  THE 

CHAP,     waa  great,  and  the  eyes  of  all  were  turned  to  Parker, 
.     v>    -   who  succeeded  in  having  the  commission  issued  to  himself 
PtafcerT    an(l  to  two  otner  heads  of  houses.     By  the  commissioner 
1559-75.    an  inventory  was  made  of  all  the  possessions  belonging  t 
the  colleges,  together  with  the  revenues  and  expenses  o 
each.     The  commissioners  then  repaired  to  the  court  with 
bterriew    a  summary  written  on  "a  fair  sheet  of  vellum."     We 
}yth  possess  an  account,  under  the  hand  of  Parker  himself,  of 

vi  11.'  their  interview  with  Henry  VIII.  at  Hampton  Court.  The 
question  related,  not  so  much  to  the  enriching  of  the  king 
himself,  as  to  that  of  his  courtiers.  Henry  therefore  could 
afford  to  be  impartial.  He  was  amused  at  seeing  the 
latter  discomfited,  and  he  received  the  commissioners  very 
graciously.  His  majesty  carefully  perused  the  statement. 
A  man  of  business  himself,  he  was  pleased  to  see  work 
done  in  a  business-like  manner.  Turning  to  his  courtiers, 
he  observed,  "  that  he  thought  he  had  not  in  his  realm  so 
many  persons  so  honestly  maintained  in  living  by  so  little 
land  and  rent."  He  added,  "pity  it  were  these  lands 
should  be  altered  to  make  them  worse."  Parker  shrewdly 
remarks,  "  at  these  words  some  were  grieved,  for  they 
disappointed  lupos  quosdam  Mantes"  "  In  fine,"  he  con- 
tinues, "  we  sued  to  the  king's  majesty  to  be  so  gracious 
lord,  that  he  would  favour  us  in  the  continuance  of  our 
possessions  such  as  they  were ;  and  that  no  man,  by  his 
grace's  letters,  should  require  to  permute  with  us  to  give 
us  worse.  He  made  answer  and  smiled,  that  he  could 
not  but  write  for  his  servants  and  others  doing  the  ser- 
vice of  the  realm  in  wars  and  other  affairs  ;  but  he  said 
he  would  put  us  to  our  choice,  whether  we  would 
gratify  them  or  no,  and  bade  us  hold  our  own,  for,  after 
writing,  he  would  force  us  no  further.  With  these  words 
we  were  well  armyd,  and  so  departed."* 

*  This   statement   is   in  the   handwriting   of  Archbishop   Parker. 
C.  C.  C.  C.  Documents,  58,  60. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  29 

Thus,  chiefly  by  the  judicious  management  of  Matthew     chap. 

Parker,   the  possessions  of  the  colleges  were  preserved  - — / - 

from  the  ravening  wolves  who  had  already  devoured  the  pJLT' 
lands  and  possessions  of  the  religious  houses  throughout  1559-75. 
the  kingdom. 

Although  Henry  VIII.  kept  his  word,  and  the  lands  of 
the  university  were  not  touched,  the  courtiers,  neverthe- 
less, had  laid  hands  on  many  of  those  ecclesiastical  prefer- 
ments which  had  hitherto  been  regarded  as  the  rewards 
of  learning.  The  consequence  was,  as  Latimer  complained, 
the  study  of  divinity  had  declined,  and  both  universities 
were  in  a  low  condition.  The  counsellors  of  Edward  VI. 
did  not  put  a  stop  to  the  evil ;  we  should  say,  rather, 
that  they  hungered  and  thirsted  after  the  property  of  the 
Church  with  a  greed  quite  equal  to  that  which  was  dis- 
played in  his  father's  reign.  The  Duke  of  Somerset  may 
be  taken  as  an  example.  Eeformer  as  he  was,  he  held  a 
deanery,  a  treasurer's  stall,  and  three  good  prebends  in  a 
cathedral ;  his  son  had  a  pension  of  three  hundred  a  year, 
nearly  equivalent  to  three  thousand  according  to  the 
present  value  of  money. 

The  townspeople,  perceiving  the  weakness  of  the  uni- 
versity, invaded  its  rights  ;  and,  by  their  unjustifiable  en- 
croachments, added  to  the  difficulties  by  which  the  vice- 
chancellor  was  surrounded.    On  the  death  of  Henry  VIII. 
the  affairs  both  of  Church  and  State  became  more  per- 
plexed, and  then  it  was  that,  as  before  stated,  Dr.  Parker  Re-elected 
was  again   elected  vice-chancellor.     He  thus   became  a  chancellor. 
reformer   of  the   university  before  he  was  called  upon  1547~8- 
to  engage  in  the  reformation  of  the  Church. 

Soon  after  the  accession  of  Edward  VI.,  Parker  carried 
a  petition  to  be  presented  to  the  Lord  Protector,  calling 
upon  the  government  to  protect  the  university  from  the 
aggressions    of  the    town.      Although    the    commission 


30  LIVES   OF   THE 


ni  \r.     thereupon  appointed  did  not  immediately  succeed  in  the 

< r — •  reconciliation  of  the  two  corporations,  the  articles  then 

;^r.    drawn  up  formed  the  groundwork  of  the  charter  which 
14M-7&    Parker  succeeded   in  obtaining  in  the  reign  of  Queen 

Elizabeth, 
visitation  As  regards  the  university,  at  Parker's  suggestion  a 
bridge!"  commission  was  appointed,  which  held  its  visitation  in 
1549.  The  interval  between  the  issue  of  the  commission 
and  the  holding  of  the  visitation  was  employed  in  drawing 
up  a  body  of  statutes  for  the  future  government  of  the 
university.  To  Parker,  who  was  vice-chancellor  in  1548, 
may  be  attributed  the  reform  in  the  examinations  of  the 
university  wThich  was  promulgated  in  1549.*  They  were 
read  by  Sir  John  Cheke  to  the  senate  on  May  6,  1549, 
and  were  then  delivered  to  the  vice-chancellor.  In 
labouring  for  the  reform  of  the  university,  Parker  had 
efficient  fellow-labourers  in  Eoger  Ascham,  Smith,  Cheke, 
Cecil,  and  Bacon,  who,  though  his  inferiors  in  point  of 
standing,  were  admitted  to  his  intimacy  and  friendship. 
He  was  certainly  contented  with  his  lot,  and  was  not  am- 
bitious of  any  higher  position  in  the  Church.  Cranmer, 
Eidley,  and  Latimer  desired  to  employ  his  talents  in  a 
more  extended  sphere  of  action ;  but  he  determined  to 
remain  satisfied  with  the  position  achieved  by  his  merits, 
moral  and  intellectual,  in  Cambridge. 

In  accepting  the  prebend  of  Corringham,  in  the  church 
of  Lincoln,  to  the  deanery  of  which  cathedral  he  was 
soon  after  advanced,  Parker  sought  chiefly  an  increase  of 
income  ;  but  his  attachment  to  Bene't  College  induced  him 
to  refuse  the  mastership  of  Trinity  College,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  he  declined  a  bishopric. 

His  happy  home  was  broken  up  on  the  accession  of 
Queen  Mary.     As  a  married  man  he  was  deprived  of  all 
*  Statute  Regis  Edwardi  Sexti,  122. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 


31 


his  preferments,  but  he  does  not  appear  to   have  been 
harshly  treated.     He  was  permitted  to  nominate  his  suc- 
cessor ;  but,  either  by  his  own  choice  or  on  compulsion, 
ie  now  quitted  Cambridge. 

The  events  of  Parker's  life  during  this  time  of  trial  must, 
lowever,  be  reserved  for  a  separate  chapter. 


Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


32  LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

PARKER   AS   A   STUDENT   AND   DIVINE. 

Parker's  early  opinions.  —  Lutheranism  at  Cambridge.  —  Thomas 
Bilney. — The  Anabaptists. — Dr.  Barnes  and  the  White  House. — 
Martin  Bucer. — Parker  preaches  his  funeral  sermon. — Scholasticism 
and  the  Schoolmen. — Parker's  patristic  studies. — The  four  great 
councils. — The  English  reformers. — Catholics  and  Protestants. 

chap.  The  history  of  Parker,  as  a  student  and  divine,  is  reserved 
i — ^ — -  for  a  separate  chapter.  To  a  biographer,  desirous  of  ob- 
ParkerT  taining  an  insight  into  his  character,  the  subject  here 
1559-75.  treated  of  is  one  of  considerable  importance.  Its  im- 
portance is  increased  when  we  bear  in  mind  the  influence 
of  Parker  in  directing,  to  a  satisfactory  result,  the  re- 
formation of  the  Church  of  England,  as  attempted  in 
their  different  ways  under  Warham,  Wolsey,  and 
Cranmer.  The  reader,  it  is  hoped,  will  not  forget  what 
was  stated  at  some  length  in  the  introductory  chapter 
of  this  book.  He  must  be  reminded  that  the  reformation 
of  our  Church  did  not  consist  of  one  revolutionary  act, 
but  that  it  was  a  series  of  events  extending  over  at 
least  a  century  and  a  half,  which  was  capable  of  being  at 
one  time  retarded,  at  another  resumed,  according  to  cir- 
cumstances, and  which  was  in  some  measure  dependent 
upon  the  ascendency  or  depression  of  rival  factions. 

Had  the  religious  movement  of  the  sixteenth  century 
in  England  related  to  the  establishment  of  a  sect,  whether 
Eomish  or  Protestant,  the  violation  of  a  principle  would 
have  been  speedily  detected  and  easily  remedied ;  but 


AKCHBISIIOPS   OF   CANTEEBURY.  33 

^hen  a  Church  was  to  be  reformed,  it  was  more  easy  to     chap 

letect  the  existence  of  errors  than  to  remove  them,  and  ._- 

jare  had  to  be  taken  lest  the  introduction  of  new  opinions     p^kerT 

should  interfere  with  the  principles  to  which  the  people    1559-75. 

were  attached,  and  of  the  truth  of  which  no  doubt  existed. 

Nothing  could  be  further  from  the  fact,  than  the  sup-  Parker's 
position  encouraged  by  the  evil-disposed,  and  accepted  opinions^ 
unquestioned  by  ignorance,  that  Matthew  Parker  went  ^young 
up  to  Cambridge  a  Protestant,  determined  to  carry  out 
Protestantism  as  it  is  now  stereotyped  for  the  use  of 
speakers  in  Exeter  Hall.  The  anti-Papal  spirit,  which 
had  existed  through  many  generations,  had  become  a 
national  passion  long  before  the  time  of  Parker's  matri- 
culation in  1521-2  ;  but,  as  a  learned  historian  remarks, 
as  late  as  the  year  1534  the  Eeformation,  so  far  as  doc- 
trine was  concerned,  had  scarcely  dawned  in  this  country. 
By  those  who  were  leading  the  attack  upon  Eome,  no 
intention  was  entertained  of  proceeding  further  in  this 
direction,  than  to  remove  the  abuses  that  were  more  or 
less  directly  connected  with  the  Papal  supremacy.  A  few 
chronological  outlines  may,  therefore,  be  of  service,  and 
the  chief  dates  assigned  to  the  events  occurring  between 
the  matriculation  of  Parker  in  1521-2  and  the  death  of 
Queen  Mary  in  1558,  which  is  the  real  date  of  the 
beginning  of  Parker's  career  in  the  character  of  a 
reformer. 

At  the  time  of  his  arrival  at  Cambridge,  he  certainly 
could  not  have  called  himself  a  Protestant,  for  the  name, 
if  not  the  thing,  did  not  at  that  time  exist.  The  desig- 
nation was  not  known,  even  in  Germany,  until  the  Diet 
of  Spires,  when,  on  the  passing  of  the  decree,  at  the 
suggestion  of  Charles  V.,  for  the  purpose  of  supporting 
the  peculiarities  of  the  Church  of  Eome,  six  Lutheran 
princes  and  the  deputies  of  thirteen  imperial  towns  pro- 

VOL.  IX.  d 


ior 

5 


34  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,     tested  against  it ;  and  the  Diet  of  Spires  was  not  convened 

-  V1^   until  the  year  1529. 

Itate  Parker  was  not  likely  to  be  called  a  Calvinist,  for 
1669-76.  Calvin,  having  been  born  in  1509,  was  Parkers  junio: 
by  a  few  years.  The  Institutio  Christiana  Religioni 
though  composed  in  1533,  was  not  issued  till  1535. 
Although  the  name  of  Luther  must  have  been  familiar 
to  English  ears  in  1521,  yet  it  is  only  from  the  time  when 
Leo  X.  issued  a  grant  of  indulgences  to  be  sold  for  money, 
that  is  to  say,  not  until  the  year  1517,  that  Lutheranism 
can  be  dated. 

Lutheran-        At  an  early  period  of  Parker's  residence  at  Cambridge, 

cam-1        some  of  Luther's   works  were  clandestinely  circulated  ; 

bridge.  tne  mciination  so  often  displayed,  especially  by  the 
young,  to  act  at  some  risk  against  authority,  may  have 
conduced  to  their  circulation.  Henry  VIII. 's  polemical 
zeal  against  Luther  induced  many  young  men  to  ascertain 
for  themselves  what  it  was  that  provoked  the  wrath  of 
the  king.  Henry  VIII. ,  at  this  time,  was  so  desirous  of 
establishing  his  character  as  Defender  of  the  Faith,  that,  as 
it  was  well  known,  he  was  urging  Lewis  of  Bavaria  to 
prove  his  orthodoxy  by  adopting  measures  in  his  duke- 
dom for  the  extirpation  of  heresy.  It  was  not  till  1531, 
ten  years  after  Parker's  matriculation,  that  Henry  VIII. 
succeeded  in  compelling  the  Catholic  Church  in  this  realm 
to  declare  the  king  to  be,  not  only  the  head  of  all  things 
in  the  State,  but  the  supreme  head  also  of  the  Church. 
Thirteen  years  were  after  this  to  elapse  before  Luther's 
Bible  made  its  appearance*  It  was  not  until  1536,  that  the 
translation  of  the  sacred  volume  into  English  by  Tyndal 


*  Calvin,  says  Archdeacon  Hardwick,  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
generally  known  in  England  before  the  close  of  Henry's  reign.  Arch- 
bishop Laurence  observes,  that  he  could  not  ascertain  when  the  word 
Calvinist  first  became  general.     Foxe  does  not  use  it. 


I 


ARCHBISHOPS  OF  CANTERBURY. 

and  Coverdale  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  public,     chap. 
In  1537,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Dr.    Cranmer,  -    VL  _,  • 
proved  his  adhesion  to  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation    Sk^ 
by   causing  Lambert  to   be  burnt  for  the  denial  of  it.    1559-75. 
Six  more  years  were  to  elapse  before  the  first  English 
Litany  was  used.     It  was  not  till  the  year  1547,  that  the 
first  reformed  Prayer  Book  made  its  appearance,  being 
set  to  music  by  Marbeck  in  1550. 

In  short,  Parker  had  been  thirty  years  at  the  University 
before  the  second  revision  of  our  Liturgical  offices  took 
place. 

That  Parker  was  present  at  Bilney's  execution,  at  an  Thomas 
early  period  of  his  university  career,  is  certain  ;  but  the  ■Bllney* 
question  is,  What  kind  of  Protestant  was  little  Thomas 
Bilney  ?  We  suspect  that  the  frequenters  of  Exeter  Hall 
will  be  astonished  to  hear  of  Bilney,  who  is  claimed  by 
Poxe  as  a  Protestant  martyr,  that  the  same  Foxe  remarks, 
— "  that,  touching  the  mass  and  the  sacrament  of  the 
altar,  Thomas  Bilney  never  varied  or  differed  from  the 
most  grossest  Catholics." 

Bilney,  like  Pole  in  Italy,  imagined  that  he  could  agree 
with  Luther  in  holding  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  only,  and  hold  it  in  consistency  with  the  acceptance 
of  sacramental  doctrine.  It  was  with  a  view  of  recon- 
ciling these  two  doctrines  that  Luther  introduced  his 
dogma  of  consubstantiation.  But  Bilney,  on  this  point, 
did  not  go  so  far  as  Luther ;  and  we  may  presume  that 
to  his  reputed  orthodoxy  on  the  subject  of  the  sacraments, 
the  kindness  is  to  be  attributed  which  was  certainly 
evinced  towards  him  by  many  who,  on  other  grounds, 
were  his  opponents.  Bilney  was  a  vehement,  enthusiastic, 
affectionate,  and  indiscreet  man  ;  who  was  the  more  be- 
loved by  his  friends  from  their  conviction  that  he  was 
always  sincere,  and  that  he  required  their  aid  to  extricate 

D  2 


36  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,     him  from  difficulties  into  which  he  was  hurried  by  t 
— \L  _,  impulses  of  a  mind  not  always  in  a  condition  of  sanity. 
Mow?    ^ls  violent  tirades  against  "  idolatry,  invocation  of  saints, 
io.vj-7.3.    vain  worship  of  images,  false  trust  in  men's  merits,  and 
such  other  points  as  seemed  prejudicial  and  derogatory  to 
the  blood  of  our  Saviour,"  exasperated  the  men  of  "  the 
old  learning,"  against  whom  the  men  of  progress,  though 
not  always  going  so  far  as  he  did,  determined  to  defend 
him.     He  did  not  argue,  but  he  appealed  to  men's  affec- 
tions, and  generally  with  success.     This  was  certainly  the 
case  with  respect  to  Matthew  Parker,  who  exhibited  in 
his  conduct   towards  Bilney  that  mixture  of  generosity 
and  caution,  of  moral  courage  and  physical  timidity,  which 
became  one   of  his  characteristics.     When  Bilney  had, 
through  timidity  and  an  appeal  to  his  affectionate  dispo- 
sition, recanted  before  the  Bishop  of  London,  Dr.  Tunstall, 
and  was,  on  consideration,  driven  to  the  verge  of  despair, 
he  found  in  Parker  a  kind  and  sympathizing  friend,  and, 
notwithstanding    the   disparity   of    their   years,    a   wise 
adviser. 
Present  at       When  it  was  reported  in  Cambridge,  that  Bilney  was 
deatk  S      prosecuted   at   Norwich  as  a  relapsed  heretic,  Matthew 


Parker  started  immediately  for  his  native  place,  that  he 
might  be  at  hand  to  render  assistance,  if  Bilney  stood 
in  need  of  it.  When  he  arrived  at  Norwich,  he  found 
Bilney  committed  to  the  custody  of  one  of  the  sheriffs, 
who,  without  sharing  his  opinions,  or,  at  all  events,  with- 
out approving  of  his  manner  of  expressing  them,  was 
nevertheless  his  personal  friend.  If  we  put  out  of  con- 
sideration the  final  act,  Bilney  could  not  complain  of  harsh 
treatment.  Dr.  Warner,  Parson  of  Winterton,  was  in 
attendance  upon  him,  received  his  confession,  gave  him 
absolution,  and  administered  to  him  the  Holy  Communion. 
Parker  probably  attended  the  mass  on  the  occasion. 


nun. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  37 

As  he  went  to  execution,  Bilney  distributed  alms  among     chap. 
the   people,   conversed   cheerfully  with  the   bystanders,  < — ,- — - 
and  spoke  words  of  moderation  and  piety.     It  had  been     parker7 
reported   that  the  Mendicants  had   been   active   in   his    1559-75. 
prosecution ;  and  Bilney,  at  their  request,  acquitted  them 
of  any  share  in  bringing  him  to  judgment.     Although 
adhering  to  all  Catholic  truth,  he  continued  to  the  last  to 
censure  the  corruption  of  the  Church,  through  the  igno- 
rance, superstition,  or  avarice  of  the  leading  clergy  of  the 
day.     We  can  easily  understand  how  a  person  so  situated 
could  be  misrepresented ;  and  that,  ignorant  of  the  denun- 
ciations  of  Thomas  Bilney,  as  pronounced  on  the  evil 
practices  of  the  Church,  no  less  a  person  than  Sir  Thomas 
More,  having  heard   that  he  held  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church   as   distinguished   from   the   superstitions  of  its 
ministers,  gave  currency  to  the  report  that  Bilney  had 
again  recanted.     This  statement,  circulated  to  the  detri- 
ment of  his  friend's   character,  Matthew  Parker,  at  all 
times,  indignantly  denied. 

Looking  at  the  treatment  experienced  by  Bilney  from 
a  theological  standing  point,  it  is  as  unaccountable  as 
it  was  cruel.  He  held  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  as  it 
then  existed,  with  a  few  insignificant  qualifications.  But 
against  the  ministers  and  rulers  of  the  Church  he  was  so 
violent,  that  he  was  suspected  of  being  an  Anabaptist. 

Parker  was  still  a  student  at  Cambridge  when  the  Anabap- 
Anabaptists  made  their  appearance  in  England.  A  brief 
notice  of  them  becomes  necessary,  because,  by  the  alarm 
which  they  occasioned,  they,  without  intending  it, 
strengthened  the  hands  of  the  English  reformers,  who, 
throughout  their  career,  made  a  clear  distinction  between 
reform  and  revolution. 

The  origin  of  the  Anabaptists  of  the  sixteenth  century 
is  involved  in  obscurity.     They  appeared  first  in  Saxony, 


tists. 


38  LIVES   OF   THE 

citap.     or  in  Switzerland  ;  but  it  was  not  until  they  established 

. Xi—   themselves  in  Northern  Germany  that,  by  their  peculiar- 

^arke'T  ities  and  eccentricities,  they  attracted  general  attention. 
1559-75.  Their  conduct,  based  on  the  most  absurd  theories,  would 
have  led,  except  for  the  interposition  of  the  civil  power, 
to  the  entire  disruption  of  civilized  society.  They  con- 
tended that  they  had  as  much  right  as  Luther,  or  any 
other  of  the  foreign  reformers,  to  place  their  owm  con- 
struction upon  Holy  Scripture,  and  to  bend  it  to  the 
support  of  their  private  judgment.  According  to  their 
view  of  revealed  truth,  they  insisted  upon  a  community 
of  goods  and  universal  equality  ;  not  only  tithes,  but 
tribute  in  every  form,  together  with  all  usury,  were 
denounced  as  unscriptural ;  baptism  of  infants  was  in 
their  opinion  an  invention  of  the  devil ;  as  all  Christians 
had  a  right  to  teach,  the  appointment  of  ministers  was 
condemned ;  Christ  being  King,  no  magistrates  were 
needed ;  revelations  were  still  made  from  God  to  man, 
through  dreams  and  visions,  vouchsafed  to  persons  who 
regarded  themselves  as  prophets.* 

At  what  time  they  first  appeared  in  England  is  not 

exactly  known  ;    but  in  the  remnant  of  Wiclifites  and 

Lollards,  and  other  discontented  spirits,  they  met  with  an 

amount  of  sympathy  which  alarmed  a  suspicious  govern- 

Anabap-     ment  impatient  of  contradiction.     Of  these  unhappy  per- 

lurnedin    sons  some  were  consigned  to  the  stake  in  the  reign  of 

Edward      Edward  VI.,  the  reformers  being  the  more  exasperated 

*  See  Mosheim,  book  iv.  sec.  3.  part  ii.  ch.  vi.  §  1,  ed.  Stubbs. 
Maclaine  says  that  "  Bockholdt,  or  Bockelson,  alias  John  of  Leyden, 
who  headed  the  Anabaptists  at  Mlinster,  ran  stark  naked  in  the  streets, 
married  eleven  wives  at  the  same  time,  to  show  his  approbation  of 
polygamy,  and  entitled  himself  King  of  Sion."  Fuesslin,  in  his 
Beytrage,  iii.  119,  denies  that  the  Anabaptists  in  general  advocated 
polygamy,  or  rejected  the  Divinity  of  our  Lord.  Mosheim's  statement, 
however,  is  generally  believed. 


m  cm, 

i 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 


against  tlieni   by   their   inability,   without   denying   the     chap. 
right  of  private  judgment,  to  convict  them  of  error  ;  and  -- — r- — - 

7  ir  •       xi  •  c   n/r  Matthew 

among  the  sufferers  in  the  reign  ot  Mary  many  were  parker. 
accused,  with  more  or  less  justice,  of  holding  these  1559-75. 
tenets.  Traces  of  them  occur  as  early  as  1536  ;  and  in 
1538,  the  year  when  Parker  took  his  D.D.  degree,  a 
royal  commission  was  issued  against  them.*  So  great 
was  the  alarm  with  respect  to  these  sectarians,  that  Hugh 
Latimer,  when  Bishop  of  Worcester,  referred  without  com- 
punction to  the  numerous  Anabaptists  who  were,  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  VI.,  burned  in  the  different  towns  of 
England.  He  states  that,  though  he  did  not  witness  the 
executions  himself,  he  was  credibly  informed  that  they 
"went  to  their  death  even  intrepide,  as  ye  will  say, 
without  any  fear  in  the  world,  cheerfully."  He  argued 
from  their  conduct,  that  it  was  no  proof  that  a  man  had 
truth  on  his  side,  because,  for  the  maintenance  of  his 
opinions,  he  was  prepared  to  die  :  he  concluded  with 
saying,  "  well,  let  them  go."  f 

Parker's  conduct  in  standing  by  his  friend  Bilney, 
amidst  the  fires  of  persecution,  contrasts  favourably  with 
the  conduct  of  this  illustrious  Protestant  martyr.  J 

It  is  affirmed  by  Strype,  that  Parker,  when  a  young  Dr.  Barnes 
man,  was   a   disciple  of  Dr.  Barnes;  but  he  gives  no  white 
authority  for  the  statement ;  and,  even  admitting  its  cor-  l^T' 
rectness,   it   will   not   throw   any   light    upon    Parker's 
opinions  at  the  time.     The  opinions  of  Dr.  Barnes,  when 
he  presided  at  the  meetings  at  the  White  House,  did  not 
differ  much  from  the  theological  opinions  of  the  Church. 

*  Wilkins,  iii.  856.  t  Latimer,  i.  160. 

J  It  has  been  shown  incidentally  by  Dr.  Maitland,  that  nearly  all 
who  suffered  in  the  days  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI.,  and  many, 
also,  of  the  sufferers  under  Queen  Mary,  were  prosecuted,  because  it 
was  known,  though  it  could  not  always  be  proved,  that  they  held  these 
socialistic  opinions. 


40  lives  of  Tin: 

chap.     Considerable  latitude  was  allowed  to  speculation,  provide 
« — r- — '  there  was  no  attempt  to  disturb  the  public  peace.    Parker, 
Parkoi\     when  he  went  to  the  University,  was  fully  convinced,  as 
1559-75.    all  England  was,   that   the    Church  required   a   radical 
reform.     He  was  quite  prepared  to  admit,  that  this  im- 
plied a  reconsideration  of  many  doctrines  and  opinions 
which  had  hitherto  been  unquestioned.     He  never  ex- 
hibited any  tendency  to  oppose  the  authorities  of  Church 
or  State ;    but   he    desired,  under  the   influence  of  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  to  make  himself  master  of  the  contro- 
versies prevalent  on  the  Continent,  and  now  introduced 
into  England.     Although   the   White   House  was  nick- 
named Germany,  and  German  books  were  clandestinely 
circulated,  the  meetings  were  not  secret ;  nor  were  they 
disturbed  until,  by  the  violence  of  some  of  the  speakers, 
a  suspicion  of  Anabaptism  was  excited  against  the  mem- 
bers.    Cardinal  Wolsey  issued  an  order,  that  Lutheran 
books  should  be  searched  for  and  destroyed ;   but   his 
treatment  of  Barnes  showed  that  he  could  act  with  tolera- 
Dr.  Barnes  tion.     Barnes  had  made  a  personal  attack  on  the  great 
before        Cardinal,  and  ridiculed  his  golden  shoes,  his  poleaxes, 
0  sey*      his  pillars,  and   his   crosses  :    when   he  was    summoned 
before  Wolsey,  the  Cardinal  remarked,  that  he  thought 
Barnes  might  find  scope  in  the  Scriptures  to  teach  the 
people,  without  maligning  him  for  accepting  the  forms 
and  ceremonies  pertaining  to  the  high  office  to  which  he 
had  been  providentially  called. 

Young  Parker  ran  no  risk,  therefore,  by  attending  the 
meetings  at  the  White  House,  even  if  it  be  true  that 
he  attended  the  lectures  of  Dr.  Barnes.  As  to  Barnes' 
protestantism  in  1527,  he  held  the  Eomish  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation  without  hesitation  ;  and  such  being  the 
case,  he  was  not  likely,  on  doctrinal  points,  to  become 
obnoxious  to  the  ruling  authorities. 


I 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  41 

It  is  sometimes  stated  that,  for  his  theological  views,  chap. 
Parker  was  much  indebted  to  Martin  Bucer  ;  but  this  < — ^—> 
statement  will  hardly  bear  investigation.  Martin  Bucer  parked 
arrived  in  England,  and  was  appointed  Professor  of  1559-75. 
Divinity  at  Cambridge  by  the  council  of  Edward  VI.,  in  Martin 
the  year  1549.  Now  Matthew  Parker  was  at  that  time'  1549. 
in  the  forty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  He  had  devoted  him- 
self, as  we  shall  presently  see,  to  patristic  studies  for 
seven  years ;  he  had  had  considerable  experience  as  a 
pastor ;  he  was  a  dignitary  of  the  Church  ;  he  was  a 
royal  chaplain  ;  he  was  a  doctor  of  Divinity,  S.T.P. ;  he 
was  master  of  Corpus  Christi  College  ;  he  had  been  twice 
elected  vice-chancellor  of  the  University  of  Cambridge ; 
and,  on  the  second  occasion,  so  high  was  his  repute,  that 
the  election  was  nearly  unanimous.  If  we  are  to  indulge 
in  conjectures,  the  historian  of  Matthew  Parker  has  as 
much  right  to  suppose,  that  a  person  so  qualified  and  so 
highly  endowed  would  act  in  the  character  of  Bucer's 
instructor,  as  the  biographer  of  Bucer  can  be  justified  in 
making  his  hero  the  preceptor  of  Parker.  If  we  pass 
from  conjecture  to  fact,  we  do  not  find,  so  far  as  I  am 
aware,  that  Parker  ever  applied  for  advice  to  Bucer ; 
while  we  certainly  can  produce  a  letter  from  Bucer  him- 
self,* in  which  he  solicits  an  interview  with  Parker,  in 
order  that  he  might  confer  with  him  on  the  subject  of 
the  lectures,  which  the  foreign  professor  was  preparing  to 
deliver  to  the  English  University.  In  writing  his  book, 
De  Regno  Christi,  Bucer  admitted,  that  he  was  deeply 
indebted  to  the  opinions  expressed  in  conversation  by 
Dr.  Parker,  who  also  assisted  the  professor  in  a  public 
disputation  which  he  held  in  Cambridge  with  Dr.  Yong.f 

The  intercourse  between  Parker  and  Bucer  was  very 
short,  and  was  rendered  shorter  by  the  infirm  state  of 

*  Corresp.  p.  41.  f  Strype,  i.  56. 


: 


42  LIVES   OF  THE 

chap.     Bucer's  health.     Bucer  arrived  at  Cambridge  in  1550, 

VI 

« — r-^—  and  died  on  the  28th  of  February,  1551.  To  Parker, 
Varker.  who  had  seen  little,  but  had  heard  much  of  foreign  divines, 
1559-75.  the  arrival  of  Bucer  caused  much  excitement.  He  learn 
to  value  him  for  his  learning  and  his  virtues  ;  and,  o 
several  occasions,  proved  himself  to  be  a  useful  friend. 
Of  their  friendly  intercourse  we  have  one  or  two  in- 
stances ;  to  which,  trifling  as  they  are,  it  is  pleasant  at 
this  distance  of  time,  we  scarcely  know  why,  to  refer. 
In  the  letter  in  which  Bucer  says,  that  he  will  call  at 
Bene't  College  to  receive  Dr.  Parker's  advice  on  the  sub- 
ject of  his  lectures,  he  accepts  an  invitation,  for  himself 
and  his  wife,  to  dine  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Parker  on  the 
following  Wednesday.*  Not  long  after,  another  invita- 
tion to  dinner  is  sent  to  Bucer,  and  accepted  conditionally, 
that  he  may  take  with  him  as  his  umbra,  a  German 
friend,  who  had  just  arrived  from  London.  There  is 
another  letter,  at  the  foot  of  which  is  a  touching  note 
in  Parker's  own  hand :  Scriptum  novissimum  omnium 
quod  scripsit  D.  Bucerus  paulo  ante  mortem  ejus. 

The  letter  is  so  brief,  that  we  may  give  it  in  the  original : 

"  S.  D.  Oro.  D.  T.  clarissime  D.  Doctor,  ut  des  milii  x.  coro- 

natos  mutuo,  uno  tamen  mense  reddam,  bona  fide.     Opt.  vale. 

"  D.  T.  deditiss.  in  Domino  Martinus  Bucerus 

tamen  persegre  scripsi.f 


Clariss.  viro  D.D.  Matthseo  Parkero,  domino  ac  fratri 
in  Christi  charissimo." 


During  the  short  time  of  his  residence  at  Cambridge, 
Bucer  was  a  great  sufferer  in  his  bodily  health.  Writing 
to  Brentius,  in  May,  1550,  he  tells  his  correspondent  that, 
ever  since  August,  he  had  suffered  from  severe  illness, 
which  left  him  in  a  state  of  weakness  in  his  legs,  arms 

*  Corresp.  p.  41.  f  Ibid-  P-  42« 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  43 

and  hands.     He  seems  to  have  been  partially  paralyzed,    chap. 
being  unable  to  move  one  of  his  fingers  in  his  left  hand,  « — ,- — 

.  .  Matthew 

and  two  in  his  right.  He  complains  of  severe  pains  in  parker. 
all  his  limbs,  succeeded  by  the  greatest  weakness  and  1559-75. 
prostration  of  strength  ;  *  also  of  the  want  of  comfort  and 
the  prevalence  of  filth,  and  that  he  misses  the  German 
stove,  f  When  wood  was  the  chief  fuel,  and  that  fuel 
dear,  our  ancestors  seldom  indulged  in  a  fire  except  in 
the  great  hall.  "  Think,"  says  Bucer,  writing  to  the  minis- 
ters at  Strasburg,  "  what  it  must  be  for  this  frail  body  of 
mine,  which  has  been,  from  my  childhood,  utterly  unable 
to  bear  the  cold,  to  be  without  a  stove  during  the 
winter,  which  is  occasionally  most  severe,  and  at  all  times 
injurious,  and  also  to  be  without  my  usual  wine  and  diet."  J 
In  addition  to  bodily  suffering,  Bucer,  always  a  friend 
of  peace,  felt  very  deeply  the  misunderstandings  which 
divided  the  anti-papists,  and  which  rendered  them  weak, 
by  splitting  them  into  sects.  His  friendship  with  Peter 
Martyr,  now  located  at  Oxford,  had  been  long  and 
sincere.  He  deplored,  therefore,  their  disagreement  about 
the  real  presence  in  the  Eucharist.  It  is  difficult  to  decide 
what  were  Bucer's  real  opinions  on  the  subject,  for  he 
had  acquired  the  evil  habit  of  expressing  himself,  of  set 
purpose,  obscurely,  with  the  object  of  creating  an  appear- 
ance of  agreement  when  all  the  while  he  knew  that,  at 
the  bottom,  there  was  a  vital  difference. 

If  Bucer  had  any  influence  over  Parker's  mind,  he  led 
him,  no  doubt,  to  the  partial  adoption  of  this  unwise 
course.  We  shall  see,  hereafter,  that  Parker,  contenting 
himself  with  securing  the  recognition  of  a  fundamental 
verity,  was  sometimes  careless  in  the  mode  of  enunciating 

*  Zurich  Letters,  ii.  544. 

f  Edward  VI.  presented  him  with  a  German  stove. 

J  Zurich  Letters,  ii.  550. 


: 


44  LIVES   OF  THE 

chap,     it,  that  thus  he  might  disarm  immediate  opposition,  leavinj 

. — X^— -  the  truth  to  be  more  firmly  asserted,  at  a  more  conveniei 
Parker,    season.     Parker  came   the  more  generously  to  Bucer' 

1559-75.    support,  because  he  found  him  fiercely  assailed  by 

Calvinistic  party  as   it   existed  abroad,  and  was  gradu- 
ally forming  itself  in  England. 

John  Burcher,  writing  to  Bullinger,  does  not  hesitate 
say:  "I  am  ignorant  as  to  what  the  hireling  Bucer,  who 
fled  from  this  church  (Strasburg)  before  the  wolf  came  i 
sight,  is  plotting  in  England.  He  is  an  invalid,  and, 
report  says,  is  either  becoming  childish,  or  is  almost  i 
his  dotage,  which  is  the  usual  result  of  a  wandering  an 
inconstant  mind."  * 

A  letter  to  the  same  effect,  but  more  fiercely  worde 
from  Hooper,  may  be  produced. 

There  seems,  nevertheless,  to  have  been  something 
peculiarly  fascinating  in  "  the  pacific  Bucer,"  as  Eanke 
styles  him.  At  the  lodge  of  Corpus  Christi  College  were 
frequently  assembled,  to  discuss  various  subjects  occupy- 
ing the  public  mind,  such  men  as  Sandys,  Grindal,  and 
Bradford.  Parker  and  his  friends  watched  with  anxiety 
the  increasing  weakness  of  Bucer,  until  at  length  he  was 
unable  to  converse,  and,  welcoming  Parker  with  a  smile, 
employed  the  time  in  silent  meditation.  He  said  that  his 
whole  soul  was  fixed  on  Christ  and  Him  crucified,  that 
God  was  in  his  heart,  that  he  was  contemplating  nothing 
but  heaven,  and  a  speedy  departure  from 'the  body.j* 

Martin       On  the  28th  of  February,  1550-1,  Martin  Bucer  died. 

1650-1.  Parker  and  Haddon  were  appointed  his  executors.     It 

was  a  great  occasion,  and  Parker  was  distinguished  as  a 
preacher.    The  sermon  was  published  in  English  in  1587.; 


I 

a 

4 


*  Zurich  Letters,  ii.  666.  f  Bucer.  Script.  Aug.  p.  874. 

J  "  Howe  wee  ought  to  take  the  Death  of  the  Godly,"  printed  at 
London  by  Ingge ;  without  date.  The  edition  of  Bucer's  Scripta 
Anglicanum  is  dated  1577. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  45 

I  have  not  been  able  to  procure  a  copy,  but  there  is  a     chap. 

careful  Latin  translation  in  Bucer's  works.     Attestation  « r- — - 

was  borne  to   Bucer's  popularity,  or  to  the  popularity     parked 
of  the  cause  of  which  he  was  the  representative,  by  the    1559-75. 
immense  assemblage  of  all  classes  of  persons  when  the 
funeral  discourse  was  delivered.    The  university  attended 
in   full  costume — the  vice-chancellor,  proctors,  doctors, 
and  graduates.     This  procession  was  joined  by  that  of 
the  mayor  and  corporation,  and  a   large   concourse   of 
townsmen.     Dr.  Parker  took  his  text  from  the  Apocrypha,  parker's 
Wisdom  iv.  7-19.     He  dwelt  at  considerable  length  on  funeral 

&  sermon. 

the  fact,  that  the  death  of  a  true  Christian  is  really  a  source, 
not  of  sorrow,  but  of  joy.  Survivors  might  indulge  in 
grief  at  the  contemplation  of  their  loss,  but  their  grief 
should  not  be  immoderate.  The  loss  of  Bucer  might  be 
lamented.  He  had  been  a  burning  and  a  shining  light, 
his  very  enemies  admitting* the  sanctity  of  his  daily  life, 
and  his  diligence  in  the  discharge  of  his  professional  duties. 
Bucer,  it  was  said,  was  taken  from  the  University  as  a 
udgment  on  their  sins :  the  thought  of  which,  and  to 
escape  heavier  judgment,  should  urge  them  to  more  com- 
plete reformation.  It  will  be  seen  that  there  is  nothing 
very  remarkable  in  the  sermon  ;  but  Parker  enlarged  upon 
the  topic  with  copious  references  to  Scripture,  and  he  con- 
cluded with  a  peroration  of  much  force  and  eloquence. 
Then  followed  the  bidding  prayers — an  exhortatio  ad 
preces  of  the  Catholic  Church  for  all  wanderers  from  the 
one  and  only  fold;  for  the  Churches  of  England  and 
Ireland ;  for  King  Edward  VI. ;  for  all  relatives  who  had 
departed  this  life ;  for  themselves,  that  they  might  be 
admitted  with  patriarchs  and  saints  to  the  beatific  vision, 
inter  quos  vobis  numero  hunc  prasstantem  et  reverendum 
patrem  D.  Martinum  Bucerum,  pro  quo  fideliter  gratias 
agamus  Deo,  quod  in  Sanctitate  requiem  suam  inciperit. 
Silent  prayers  were  then  offered. 


46  LIVES   OF   THE 


ire 


The  reader  has  now  before  him  a  slight  view  of  the  diffi- 
culties with  which  Parker  had  to  contend  in  his  desire  to 
Parkw*  arrive  at  the  truth,  and  the  very  little  help  he  received. 
1559-75.  Although  he  was  a  man  of  strong  mind  and  sterling 
common  sense,  with  business  habits  and  great  powers 
application,  he  was  not  a  man  of  genius  ;  and  the  mannei 
in  which  he  gradually  acquired  knowledge,  strengthene( 
his  convictions  and  distinguished  nicely  between  the  less 
marked  lines  which  separate  truth  from  error,  may  lead 
us  to  perceive,  that  the  moral  faculties  of  a  resolute  mind 
may  so  far  raise  the  possessor  of  it,  as  to  enable  him  to 
direct  and  control  many  who,  in  the  struggle  of  life,  art 
in  intellectual  power  his  superiors. 

Learning,  especially  as  it  existed  in  the  universities,  w< 
in  a  transition  state  when  Parker  first  engaged  in  the 
conduct  of  its  affairs.  More  attention  was  paid  to  the  old 
scholastic  system  than  was  the  case  when  his  friends  and 
disciples,  Smith  and  Cheke,  rose  to  power.  To  their  master 
and  harbinger  these  distinguished  scholars  were  much 
indebted.  Though  beginning  where  his  academical  la- 
bours had  ended,  they  worked  under  advantages  not 
possessed  by  him.  Instead  of  stating  that  a  new  learning 
had  begun,  we  should  be  more  correct  in  saying,  that  the 
old  learning  had  merged  into  the  new.  To  the  present 
Schoiasti-  hour  the  effects  of  the  scholastic  system  has  its  influence  on 
European  learning.  As  the  old  trivium  and  quadrivium 
in  the  schools  had  merged  into  scholasticism,  so  scholasti- 
cism has  merged  into  modern  philosophy.  It  is  discredit- 
able to  many  pretenders  to  learning,  and  even  more  so  to 
some  really  learned  men,  when  they  venture  to  speak  with 
contempt  of  men,  their  equals  certainly — perhaps  their 
superiors — in  vigour  of  mind  and  in  moral  excellence, 
merely  because  the  conclusions  at  which  the  latter  have 
arrived,  or  their  manner  of  investigating  a  common  subject, 


asm 


J  cui, 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  47 

may  differ  from  the  principles  which  their  self- constituted 
censors  assert  to  be  indisputable.  This  conduct  becomes 
an  act  of  dishonesty,  when  these  intellectual  inquisitors  parkerT 
admit  that  they  have  never  studied  the  works  upon  which  1559-75. 
they  presume  to  sit  in  judgment  and  to  pass  sentence. 
Such  a  treatment,  until  of  late  years,  the  Schoolmen  have 
received  at  the  hands  of  modern  philosophers.  Men  of 
learning,  or — as  in  the  last  century,  the  title  then  implied — 
philologists,  deeply  read  in  the  classics,  and  despising  as 
barbarian  whatever  did  not  accord  with  the  literature  and 
philosophy  of  Greece  and  Eome,  introduced  that  mode  of 
speaking  disparagingly  of  scholasticism  which  has  been 
imitated  by  the  petit  litterateur  of  our  own  age.  From 
the  deference,  however,  which  is  now  evinced  to  German 
literature,  we  may  expect  to  find  the  subject  of  scholas- 
ticism once  more  fearlessly  discussed,  its  faults  fairly 
exposed,  but  its  merits  duly  admitted.  It  is  said  by 
Semler :  "  The  poor  scholastici  have  been  too  much 
despised,  and  that,  frequently,  by  people  who  would  not 
be  good  enough  to  be  their  transcribers."  Ullman  calls 
the  scholastic  theology,  "  in  its  commencement,  a  truly 
scientific  advance  upon  the  past ;  in  its  entire  course,  a 
great  dialectic  preparatory  school  of  Christianity  in  the 
West ;  in  its  completion,  a  grand  and  highly  finished 
production  of  the  human  mind."*  These  writers  are  ad- 
vanced Protestants,  men  of  the  Eationalistic  or  Unitarian 
school.  To  their  testimony  we  may  add  the  opinion  of 
Sir  James  Mackintosh,  when,  in  his  "  Progress  of  Ethical 
Philosophy,"  he  has  occasion  to  speak  of  Thomas  Aquinas. 
His  panegyric  is  qualified,  but  his  qualification  will,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  readers  of  these  pages,  add  to  the  merit  of 
the  Sum  ma  Theologian.     The  ethical  system  of  the  School- 

*  I   give  these    quotations   from    Hagenbach,  whose  own    opinion 
accords  with  those  of  the  writers  to  whom  he  refers. 


JCI 

>m 
in 

le 


48  LIVES   OF   THE 

men,  or,  to  speak  more  properly,  of  Aquinas  as  themaste 
of  Christendom  for  three  centuries,  was  in  its  practi 
part  so  excellent  as  to  leave  little  need  of  extensive  change, 
1559-75.  with  the  inevitable  exception  of  the  connection  of  his 
religious  opinions  with  his  precepts  and  counsels.  His 
rule  is  neither  lax  nor  impracticable  ;  his  grounds  of  duty 
are  solely  laid  in  the  nature  of  man  and  in  the  well-being 
of  society.  Such  an  intruder  as  subtlety  seldom  strays 
into  his  moral  instructions.  With  a  most  imperfect 
knowledge  of  the  peripatetic  writings,  he  came  near  tin 
great  master  by  abstaining,  in  practical  philosophy,  froi 
the  unsuitable  exercise  of  that  faculty  of  distinction,  in 
which  he  would  probably  have  shown  that  he  was  little 
inferior  to  Aristotle  if  he  had  been  equally  unrestrained. 
His  very  frequent  coincidence  with  modern  moralists  i* 
doubtless,  to  be  ascribed  chiefly  to  the  nature  of  the 
subject ;  but  in  part  also  to  that  unbroken  succession 
of  teachers  and  writers  which  preserves  the  observations 
contained  in  what  had  been  long  the  text-book  of  the 
European  schools,  after  the  books  themselves  had  been  for 
ages  banished  and  forgotten.  The  praises  bestowed  on 
Aquinas  by  every  one  of  the  few  great  men  who  appeal 
to  have  examined  his  writings  since  the  downfall  of  hie 
power,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned  Erasmus,  Grotius, 
and  Liebnitz,  are  chiefly,  though  not  solely,  referable  t( 
his  ethical  works."* 

After  rendering  the  honour  which  is  their  due  to  the 
great  philosophers  of  the  middle  ages,  we  are  not  guilty 
of  any  inconsistency  if  we  remark  that,  long  before  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  it  was  perceived  and 
acknowledged  that,  out  of  scholasticism,  a  new  and  a 
better  system  was  rising.     Scholasticism  had  begun  in  the 

*  Mackintosh's  Ethical  Philosophy,  ed.  Whewell,  p.  105.     See 
the  excellent  preface  of  Leibnitz  to  Nizolius,  sec.  37.    , 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  49 

3  founded  by  Charles  the  Great,  with  the   noble     chap. 
object  in  view  of  effecting  an  alliance  between  revelation 


and  reason.  Theology  supplied  the  dogma  from  Scripture,  ParkTiT 
and  the  aim  of  philosophy  was  to  penetrate  the  principles  1559-75. 
of  revealed  truth,  and  to  establish  their  objective  cer- 
dnty.  If  the  conclusions  of  the  philosopher  were  not  in 
tccordance  with  the  declarations  of  Scripture,  it  was 
lodestly  assumed  that  the  philosopher  was  in  error, 
id  he  resumed  his  investigations.  In  philosophical 
Lvestigations  the  means  employed  were  logic  and  meta- 
)hvsics,  or  dialectics. 

Scholasticism,  in  the  first  period  of  its  history,  may  be  a.d. 
escribed  as  the  application  of  dialectics  to  theology; 
and  this  period  may  be  considered  as  extending  from 
Lanfranc  and  Anselm  to  John  Scotus.  The  astonishing 
intellectual  powers  of  John  Scotus  the  Irishman  accom- 
plished less  than  might  have  been  expected,  because  he 
laboured  under  the  suspicion  or  charge  of  heresy.  In 
Anselm's  Cur  Deus  Homo,  of  which  some  notice  has  been 
taken  in  the  life  of  that  distinguished  primate,  we  have  a 
fair  specimen  of  the  services  which  have  been  rendered  to 
religion  by  the  scholastic  philosophy.  The  scheme  of 
satisfaction  on  which  he  speculated  so  largely,  is  the 
foundation  of  the  theological  system  of  those  sects  which, 
at  the  present  time,  assume  to  themselves  the  title  of 
evangelical. 

Against  the  restraints  which  theology  had  imposed  AD- 120°- 
upon  its  speculations,  the  European  mind,  when  thoroughly 
awakened,  was  prepared  to  rebel.  The  philosophy  which 
at  first  professed  to  be  only  the  ancilla  theologice,  now 
regarded  theology  and  philosophy  as  standing  upon  an 
equality.  The  Nominalists,  in  the  eleventh  century,  com- 
menced their  interminable  warfare  against  that  realism 
which  had,  till  then,  been  taken  for  granted.     Between 

VOL.  IX.  E 


50  LIVES   OF   THE 


10 

5 

lis 


char     the  two  parties — the  Realists  and  the  Nominalists — who 

< ^ — ,  agreed  that  the  essential  object  of  dialectics  was  the  cli 

Parker*    cussion  of  wiiversals,  as  distinguished  from  particular  an 
1559-75.   individual  things,  the  question  arose,  whether  universal 
are  words  and  names  only,  or  things  and  real  essences. 
It  was  by  John  Boscelin  that  the  Nominalists  were  first 
formed  into  a  sect.     They  found  in  Peter  Abelard  a  zealous 
supporter ;  in  talent,  learning,  and  fame  transcending  his 
leader.     Some  of  their  conclusions,  however,  leading  pal- 
pably to  heresy,  the  Nominalists  were  condemned  by  the 
Church  ;    and   realism  regained  an  ascendency  which  it 
retained  to  the  thirteenth  century.     Fresh  energy  was,  at 
this   time,  infused  into  the  schools  of  philosophy  by  a 
revival   of  the  study   of  Aristotle.     Although  we  have 
neither   time    nor    space   to   recount   the   circumstances 
under  which  this  revival  took  place,  we  must  remark,  in 
passing,  that  the  Aristotelian  philosophy  was  received  by 
the  Schoolmen,  not  from  "  the  mighty  Stagyrite  "  himself, 
but  as   diluted   through   Arabian   translators   and   com- 
mentators.    In  the  reforms  of  the  thirteenth  century,  our 
a.d.  1250.    countryman,  Alexander  de  Hales,  took   the   lead.     By 
Albertus  Magnus  he  was  surpassed  in  learning ;  but  even 
to  him  he  did  not  yield  in  point  of  natural   ability  or 
genius.     In  learning  and   in  genius,  however,  both   of 
these  distinguished  men  were  inferior  to  Thomas  Aquinas, 
the  Doctor  universalis  et   angelims,  of  whom  we  have 
already  spoken  at  some  length.     The  Summa  Theologian 
remained  for  many  years  the  text-book  of  the  schools  of 
Western  Christendom.     Against  the  Thomists,  as  his  re- 
presentatives were  called,  war  was  incessantly  waged  by 
the  Scotists,   who  had   for   their   founder  Duns  Scotus, 
another  Englishman,  a  native  of  Northumberland.     Al- 
though by   those   who   have   studied   his   works,    Duns 
Scotus  is  represented  as  a  deeply  learned  philosopher,  yet, 
from  the  vain  and  idle  distinctions  in  which  he  indulges, 


1300-1400. 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  51 

he  appears  to  those  who  regard  him  only  as  a  controver-    chap. 

sialist,  as  one  who  in  his  attack  upon  Aquinas  had  less  » A - 

regard  for  truth  than  a  logical  triumph.  In  the. long  Parked 
war  waged  by  the  Scotists  against  the  Thomists,  although  1559-75. 
much  subtle  disputation  was  displayed  on  both  sides,  yet 
the  result  was  an  odium  theologicum  very  damaging  to 
the  Christian  character  and  cause.  During  these  violent 
disputes,  nominalism  continued  to  gain  ground,  until  it 
came  to  a  climax  under  the  leading  of  another  English- 
man, William  of  Occam,  or  Ockham,  in  Surrey.  He  was  Ld. 
a  disciple  of  Scotus,  and  achieved  the  title  of  Doctor  singu- 
laris,  invincibilis  et  venerabilis  Inceptor.  Without  hesi- 
tation William  of  Occam  set  aside  the  dogmas  of  the 
Church  whenever  they  interfered  with  his  private  judg- 
ment, or  appeared  to  be  inconsistent  with  his  philoso- 
phical speculations.  Notwithstanding  this,  his  arguments 
and  influence  led  to  important  practical  results.  By  him 
the  rights  of  the  Gallican  Church  were  openly  and  vigor- 
ously defended  from  the  usurpations  of  the  Pope.  To 
his  school,  moreover,  those  great  men  attached  them- 
selves, of  whose  conduct  at  the  Councils  of  Pisa,  Constance, 
and  Basle  we  have,  in  preceding  chapters,  spoken  at  some 
length.  Thus  scholasticism  wore  itself  out,  and  was 
merged  into  the  modern  philosophy,  for  which  it  prepared 
the  way. 

The  Scholastics  employed  dialectics  as  their  weapon  of 
offence  and  attack ;  and  by  degrees,  in  their  schools,  re- 
ligion was  too  often  turned  into  a  mere  matter  of  idle  dis- 
pute. How  jejune  all  this  appeared  to  souls  which  were 
hungering  and  thirsting  after  righteousness,  it  is  easy  to 
understand.  It  was  not  head-work,  but  heart-work,  for 
which  the  rising  generation  sighed ;  and  it  too  often  hap- 
pened that,  when  the  demand  was  made  for  bread,  they 
received  a  stone.     Hence,  concurrently  with  the  decline 


52  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,     of  scholasticism,  undermining  rather   than   attacking 
— ^—s  mysticism  made  its  appearance.     By   the  Mystics,  logi< 
Parked    was  subordinated  to  sentiment,  and  they  contended  that 
L66&-7&    the  intuitions  of  a  true  believer  led  to  a  knowledge  of  re- 
ligion superior  to  anything  attainable  by  dialectics.    While 
dialectic  theology  was  regarded  by  one  party  as  the  pii 
nacle  of  wisdom,  so  by  the  opposite  party,  in  devotiom 
feeling  and  contemplative  lore,  all  true  religion  was  su] 
posed  to  consist. 

Although  this  system  would,  in  common  minds,  nc 
unfrequently  degenerate  into  fanaticism,  or  develop  itself 
into  heresy,  there  were,  nevertheless,  great  men  among 
the  religious  Mystics  who  anticipated  the  Beformation  of 
the  sixteenth  century  ;  and,  while  encouraging  devotional 
fervour,  and  sensible  communion  with  God,  neither  neg- 
lected to  cultivate  the  understanding,  nor  evinced  any 
disregard  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Christian 
Church. 

They  argued  with  the  Schoolmen  ;  they  worshipped 
with  the  Mystics.  Such  were  John  Tauler — some  of  whos 
writings  were,  in  after  times,  attributed  to  Luther — Gerson 
of  Eheims,  and  Peter  d'Ailley,  of  whom  we  have  read  in 
former  volumes  of  this  work,  and  pre-eminently  Thomas 
Hamerken  of  Kempen,  better  known  as  Thomas  a  Kempis.* 

*  "The  ideas  of  the  orthodox  Mystics  rest  on  the  positive  foundation 
of  the  Creed  ;  and  all  the  spiritual  transactions  described  by  them  are 
most  intimately  connected  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  the  incarna- 
tion of  Christ,  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  promised  by  Christ,  and  the 
mystery  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  abstract  theory  of  the  heretical 
Mystics  seeks  to  fathom  the  depth  of  the  soul,  which,  in  their  opinion, 
is  nothing  but  God  himself.  They  teach  that  sanctification  is  the  work 
of  man  himself;  and  regard  the  said  positive  doctrines  as,  at  most,  the 
symbols  of  those  spiritual  transactions  on  which  the  accomplishment  of 
the  design  of  our  life  depends.  It  is  of  special  importance,  in  an  exposi- 
tion of  the  history  of  this  period,  distinctly  to  separate  these  two  kinds 
of  orthodox  and  heterodox  Mystics."   Engelhardt,  Richard  von  S.  Victor, 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 


53 


CHAP. 
VI. 


Matthew 
Parker. 


Enough  has  been  already  advanced  to  account  for  the 
decline  of  scholasticism,  at  one  time  so  universally  popular. 
Everything  in  nature,  or  connected  with  man,  has  in  it, 
from  its  beginning,  or  birth,  the  seeds  of  decay.  In  1559-75. 
addition  to  the  internal  elements  of  decay  in  the  scho- 
lastic system  already  noticed,  political  events  had  been 
long  tending  to  shake  its  dominion  over  the  minds  of 
men.  The  Crusades,  which  opened  a  communication  with 
the  East,  and  made  the  Latin  Church  acquainted  with  the 
Arabic  translations  of  Aristotle,  and  their  commentaries — 
the  invention  of  the  art  of  printing — the  conquest  of  Con- 
tantinople,  which  inflamed  the  Western  world  with  a 
ove  of  ancient  literature,  and  placed  the  genuine,  un- 
dulterated  works  of  Aristotle  in  the  hands  of  the  learned — 
the  formation  of  a  middle  class  of  citizens — the  develop- 
ment of  modern  languages — the  firmer  establishment  of 
the  civil  power,  and  its  increasing  independence  of  Eome 
— the  advancement  of  experimental  knowledge  of  the 
sciences — the  better  taste  introduced  by  the  study  of  the 
classics — the  detection  that  the  Latin  Vulgate,  which,  like 
our  authorized  version,  had  been  too  often  made  to  stand 
in  the  place  of  the  original  text,  required  complete  re- 
vision,— all  conduced  to  the  gradual  formation  of  a  public 
opinion,  that  the  foundations  of  philosophy,  as  well  as  of 
theology,  demanded  re-examination,  and  that  every  school 
of  thought  must  be  subjected  to  a  careful  reform. 


p.  2,  quoted  by  Hagenbach,  Hist.  Doct.  p.  413.  In  Hagenbach, 
Tenneman,  and  G-ieseler  we  have  an  account  of  the  Schoolmen  and 
their  systems.  They  refer  to  German  writers  who  have  written  the 
history  of  these  philosophers  and  divines.  I  am  not  aware  of  any 
English  writer  who  has  attempted  this  interesting  subject.  It  is  touched 
upon  by  Mr.  Maurice  in  an  article  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Metropolitana, 
in  reading  which  regret  is  felt  that  his  powerful  mind  had  not  been 
directed  entirely  to  this  investigation.  Bishop  Hampden  just  enters 
on  the  subject,  but  stops  short. 


5  I  LIVES   OF   THE 


chap.         When  the  philosophy,  on  which  the  education  in  tl 
Universities  was  based,  was  in  a  transitional  state,  the  r 


VI. 


I 


Ptoker?  form  of  the  Universities  became  necessary.  The  you 
1559-75.  mind  requires  dogma  for  its  basis  of  thought ;  and  con- 
fusion was  sure  to  ensue,  when,  ceasing  to  dogmatize,  eve 
youth  was  left  to  think  out  the  most  complicated  subjects  f< 
himself,  and  without  assistance.  Although,  as  it  has  be 
before  remarked,  the  obsolete  system  did  a  good  work  in 
the  exercise  of  the  mind,  yet  complaint  was  justly  made, 
that  the  studies  of  the  Universities  had  not  risen  to  the  in- 
tellectual requirements  of  the  age.  There  was  said  to  be 
no  end  of  quoting  and  answering,  of  laying  down  theses 
and  antitheses,  of  arguments  and  counter-arguments,  of 
divisions  and  subdivisions,  which  seemed  to  be  intermin- 
able. Complaint  wTas  made  that  the  youth  of  the  day 
were  taught  to  argue,  not  for  truth,  but  for  victory  ; 
and,  consequently,  objections  were  multiplied  that  answers 
might  be  supplied.  Heretical  positions  were  not  un- 
frequently  advanced  by  the  orthodox  believer,  and  the 
unbeliever  would  offer  himself  in  sarcastic  mockery,  with 
a  sneer  on  his  countenance,  as  a  malleus  hcerelicorum.  In 
short,  as  Erasmus  observes,  "  there  were  innumerable 
quibblings  about  notions,  and  relations,  and  formalita- 
tions,  and  quiddities,  and  hascceities,  which  no  eye  could 
follow  out  but  that  of  a  lynx,  which  is  said  to  be  able, 
in  the  thickest  darkness,  to  see  things  that  have  no 
existence."  * 
a.d.  1525.  When,  in  the  year  1525,  Parker  was  emancipated  from 
studies!0  college  discipline,  and  was  at  liberty  to  pursue  his  own 
course  of  reading,  he  devoted  himself,  for  seven  years,  to 
the  study  of  the  Fathers.  Whether  this  course  of  study 
was  the  suggestion  of  his  own  mind,  or  whether  he  acted 

*  Erasmi,  Stultitise  Laus,  p.  141. 


I 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 

upon  the  advice  of  others,  the  plan  adopted  rendered  him     chap. 
independent  of  modern  authorities,  and  he  grew  up  - — ^ — - 

Matthew 

Nullius  addictus  jurare  in  verba  magistri.  Parker. 

1559-75. 
When,  in  process  of  time,  the  followers  of  Luther,  or  of 

Calvin,  appeared  in  England,  and  sought  to  overthrow  the 
foundations  of  the  Church,  that  on  its  ruins  they  might 
erect  a  Protestant  sect,  Parker  was  willing  to  hear,  and 
duly  to  consider,  what  good  and  learned  men,  whether  his 
compatriots  or  foreigners,  had  to  say ;  but  their  conclu- 
sions were  not  authoritative  to  him.  He  rather,  by  an 
appeal  to  the  Fathers,  acted  towards  them  as  a  judge  :  he 
might  read  their  writings ;  but  it  was  in  the  spirit,  not  of 
a  disciple,  but  a  critic. 

The  Fathers  were  not  to  him  as  they  are  to  the  Eo- 
manist,  when  the  Eomanists  attribute  to  them  the  same 
kind  of  inspiration  as  was  vouchsafed  to  the  Apostles : 
they  were  to  him  as  witnesses — as  persons  qualified  to 
bear  testimony  to  the  dogmas  universally  received  by 
apostolic  Churches.  The  Apostles  preached  before  they 
wrote,  and  the  primitive  bishops  sat  at  their  feet,  antece- 
dently to  the  reception  of  the  Epistles,  or  even  of  the 
Gospels.  Of  the  apostolic  teaching  a  record  was  kept ; 
and  if  in  one  church  a  dogma  was  disputed,  a  correspond- 
ence between  several  Churches  took  place,  to  ascertain 
what  each  and  all  had  received  from  the  beginning  * 
Our  English  reformers,  as  distinguished  from  the  conti- 
nental controversialists,  believed  that  in  the  primitive 
Church  there  had  been,  from  the  beginning,  a  traditio  ex- 
egetica,  called  by  Irenaeus  the  xavwv  t%  aK^elctg^  by 

*  Routh,  Opuscula,  p.  690.  See  also  St.  Cyprian,  Ep.  55,  where  he 
says,  that  the  bishops,  over  the  face  of  the  whole  world,  acted  together 
in  one  harmonious  concert. 

t  Adv.  Haares.  lib.  i.  cap.  9.  sec.  4.  See  the  whole  subject  admir- 
ably treated  by  Irenaeus.     Regula  Fidei,  ed.  Routh,  p.  690. 


56  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap.     Clemens  Alexandrinus  the  xavcvv  IxxXria-iaa-Tixoy*     The 
— ^ — -  whole  of  Tertullian's  book,  De  Prcescriptione,f  is  an  ap- 

Parker.     plication  of  this  principle  to  the  controversies  of  his  age. 

1559-75.  The  principle  of  deference  to  the  traditio  exegetica  was 
what  distinguished  the  Catholic  from  the  Heretic;  the 
man  who,  in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture,  had  respect  to 
the  dogma  of  the  Church,  and  the  man  who,  however 
ignorant  he  might  be,  relied  exclusively  on  his  private 
judgment. %  That,  through  a  constant  intercourse  between 
churches  the  most  distant,  a  harmony  of  doctrine  existed, 
such  as  prevails,  at  the  present  time,  between  different 
branches  of  the  same  sect,  is  expressly  affirmed  by 
Irenasus,§  by  Tertullian,  ||  by  Hegesippus,^"  by  Clemens 
Alexandrinus,**  and  by  Origen.  ff  The  whole  Church 
was  organized  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  and  preserv- 
ing the  quod  semper,  quod  ubique,  quod  ab  omnibus. 

Matthew  Parker  devoted  his  attention  to  these  early 
writers.  He  knew,  what  few  would  deny,  that,  to  pre- 
serve the  faith  first  orally  delivered  by  apostolic  preachers 
of  the  Church,  a  constant  intercourse  and  correspondence 
were  sustained  between  the  bishops  located  in  all  parts 
of  the  world.  Iremeus  informs  us  that,  even  in  his 
time,  there  were  churches  in  Germany,  in  Spain,  and 
in  France,  as  well  as  in  the  East,  in  Egypt,  in  Africa,  and 
in  the  middle  of  the  world,  in  which  one  and  the  same 
tradition  was  preserved.  He  found  many  such  letters  in 
Eusebius,  and  he  knew  the  care  that  was  taken  to  pre- 
vent interpolation  and  forgery,  and,  by  the  employment 

*  Strom,  lib.  vi.  c.  15. 

•J*  See  especially  De  Prescript,  xxii.  xxvii. 

\  This  is  well  stated  by  Vincentius  Lirinensis,  cap.  34. 

§  Lib.  i.  c.  10,  alias  3 ;  lib.  iii.  c.  3. 

||  De  Prescript,  xx.  xxviii.  %  Apud  Euseb.  iv.  22. 

**  Strom,  lib.  vii.  898,  899.     Conf.  Strom,  i.  322. 

If  In  Apolog.  Pamph.  inter  opp.  Hierom.  torn.  v.  223. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 

of  trustworthy  messengers,  to  secure  the  delivery  of  the  chap. 
letters.  They  were  called  Uteres  formates,  because  they  -_^^_- 
were  written  in  a  peculiar  form,  with  some  peculiar  marks  parked. 
or  characters,  which  served  as  private  signatures  to  dis-  1559-75. 
tinguish  the  true  from  the  counterfeit.  Optatus  remarks, 
that  the  whole  world  was  united  in  one  common  society 
or  communion,  by  the  mutual  intercourse  of  these  canon- 
ical letters.*  "Is  it  possible," Tertullian  asks,  "to  suppose 
that  so  many  and  such  great  Churches  have  blundered 
into  one  and  the  same  faith?  "f  It  is  from  the  existence  of 
this  principle  in  the  primitive  Church  that  the  first  four 
councils  have  obtained  an  authority  which  no  subsequent 
councils  have  ever  possessed.  By  refusing  to  take  part  in 
the  Council  of  Trent,  it  was  on  this  ground  that  Parker 
and  the  English  reformers  defended  their  orthodoxy. 
The  Council  of  Trent,  as  was  the  case  with  the  councils 
of  the  middle  ages,  was  convened  to  define  the  faith  ac- 
cording to  the  private  judgment  of  the  persons  composing 
the  assembly.  It  was  with  a  very  different  object  in 
view  that  the  first  four  councils  were  summoned.  The 
question  then  asked  had  not  reference  to  the  private 
opinions  of  the  Fathers,  but  simply,  as  was  the  case  with 
the  Uteres  formates,  to  ascertain  with  greater  precision 
what  the  truths  were  which  had  been  handed  down  from 
father  to  son.  The  Council  of  Nice  had  special  reference 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  The  Fathers  of  the 
Nicene  Council  were  very  careful  to  declare,  that  the  form 
t)f  faith  promulgated  by  them  was  no  invention  or  deduc- 
tion of  their  own,  but  simply  what  they  had  received 
when  first  they  were  instructed  in  the  principles  of 
Christianity. J     The   Novatian   bishop,   Acesius,   himself 

*  Lib.  ii.  48. 

\  De  Prescript.  Hser.  xxviii. :  "  Ecquid  verisimile  est  ut  tot  ac  tantae 
in  imam  fidem  erraverint  ?  "  J  Soc.  lib.  i.  c.  8, 


58  LIVES   OP  THE 


admitted  to  Constantino,  that  it  was  no  new  thing  that  at 
that  time  was  decided  upon.  He  affirmed  that  the  council 
had  decided  according  to  tradition;  and  this  was  probably 
ioo9-75.  the  reason  why,  at  the  commencement  of  the  sessions, 
when  the  logicians  began  to  discuss  and  dispute,  they  were 
immediately  put  to  silence.  The  fact  is  clearly  stated  by 
Eusebius  in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  his  diocese  on  the 
occasion  :  "As  we  have  received  by  tradition  from  our 
predecessors,  from  our  predecessors  the  bishops,  then 
when  we  were  instructed  in  the  first  principles  of  the 
faith,  and  received  our  baptism  as  we  have  learned  from 
the  sacred  Scriptures,  as  also  we  do  now  believe,  and  do 
make  a  public  declaration  of  our  faith."  * 

The  very  contest  about  the  word  opoouviov  may  be  traced 
to  the  misapplication  of  this  principle.  It  was  thought  by 
some  to  be  a  new  term ;  and  so  it  was,  but  it  was  em- 
ployed to  express  the  fact  universally  acknowledged.  It 
is  easy  to  show  that,  in  the  three  other  councils,  the  design, 
object,  and  intention  were  the  same.  We  are  not  con- 
cerned with  the  character  or  the  opinions  of  those  who 
were  summoned  to  the  council.  It  was  for  the  purpose  of 
preventing  the  introduction  of  novelties,  and  of  reporting 
that  which  was  received  from  the  beginning,  that  these 
councils  were  convoked.  The  members,  while  they 
solemnly  disclaimed  any  design  of  adding  to  the  faith, 
solemnly  professed  their  resolution  to  follow  the  steps  of 
the  Fathers.f 

In  making  this  assertion,  it  is  not  intended  to  affirm  of 
insinuate  that  no  discussions  took  place ;  for  there  were 
many  points,  namely,  those  which  related  to  the  regulation 
of  different  churches,  which  were  open   to,  and  indeed 

*  Soc.  lib.  i.  c.  8. 

"j"   UdiTiQ   ol   tvXafiefrruToi   eftoijaav   AtKaia    ?/    Kplaig    tGjv    rraTeptot 
Canones  Chalcedonensis.     Concil.  Univ.  p.  419. 


CANTERBURY. 


called   for,  discussion.     It  is  only  contended  that  these     chap. 
discussions  did  not  take  place  when  articles  of  the  faith  » — ^ — - 
were  under  consideration.     To  make  this  distinction  is  a     Parker7 

•matter  of  great  importance,  and  nothing  can  tend  more    1559-75. 
strongly  to  prove  its  existence  than  the  difference  in  the 
form  of  words  used  when  any  canon  pertaining  merely  to 
a  rite  or  ceremony,  or  to  a  case  of  discipline,  was  enacted, 
from  the  course  adopted  when  assent  was  given  to  an 

'tide  of  faith.  In  the  former  case  the  form  was  soo£$  to. 
u7roTSTay^.svoL  (these  things  seem  good  to  us),  in  the  latter 

)i)Ta)g    7ri(TTs6si    tj    xaSoXixr)    sxx^o-la    (so    the    Catholic 

/hurch  believes) ;  not  presuming  to  act  on  their  own 
judgment,  but  simply  declaring  the  fact  of  tradition.* 

Such  were  the  principles  of  the  English  reformers,  and  Principles 
well  would  it  have  been  for  the  Church  of  England  if  to  £^1^ 
diose  principles  they  had  consistently  adhered.      In  their  reformers- 
weakness  they  frequently  yielded  to  the  clamours  of  the 
ultra-Protestants,  and  became   involved   in   perplexities, 
Prom  which  even   now  we   find   it   difficult   to   escape. 

^rker,  and  those  who  coincided  with  him — that  is  to 
say,  those  who,  in  seeking  the  reformation  of  the  Church, 
acted  on  the  principle  now  laid  down — regarded  them- 
selves, as  indeed  they  were,  as  persons  baptized  into, 
representing,  and  called  upon  to  govern  the  old  Catholic 
Church  of  this  realm ;  this — the  old  Catholic  Church — 
they  never  quitted.  That,  in  the  middle  ages,  corruptions, 
both  in  discipline  and  doctrine,  had  gradually  been  in- 
troduced by  the  negligence  of  our  ecclesiastics  at  home, 

*  Athanasius,  De  Syn.,  quoted  by  Hammond  in  his  Paraenesis,  p.  558. 
Hammond  continues :  "  To  which  purpose  also  was,  I  suppose,  the 
second  versicle  in  the  doxology  (the  orthodoxal  form  of  acknowledging 
the  Trinity),  '  As  it  was  in  the  beginning,'  as  it  stood  by  original  tradi- 
tion apostolical,  '  is  now,  and  ever  shall  be,  world  without  end.' "  No  new 
doctrine  was  ever  to  be  brought  into  the  Church,  by  whatsoever  council, 
but  only  that  which  the  Apostles  had  delivered. 


■ 

id 


GO  LIVES   OF   THE 

and  the  gradual,  but  incessant,  usurpations  of  the  myrini 
dons  of  Popery,  they  were  so  far  from  denying,  that  they 
PftrkerT  felt  ^  their  duty  to  emancipate  their  Church  from  the 
ioo9-7o.  foreign  thraldom,  and  to  bring  it  back  from  mediaeval 
romance  to  primitive  truth.  Unfortunately,  they  wer 
or  imagined  themselves  to  be,  too  weak  to  effect  tlii 
without  recourse  to  an  alliance  with  another  power,  an 
they  soon  found  a  new  tyrant  in  the  sovereign  whom  they 
first  accepted  as  an  ally. 

They  seem  never  to  have  forgotten  their  position,  which 
was  strictly  that  of  reformers.  It  has  been  elsewhere 
observed  that  Luther,  Zwingli,  and  Calvin  were  not, 
properly  speaking,  reformers ;  they  were  merely  leaders 
of  a  great  revolution.  A  reformation  supposes  the  pre- 
existence  of  something  to  be  reformed — the  old  Catholic 
Church.  That  Church  they  regarded  as  Naaman,  captain 
of  the  host  of  the  king  of  Syria,  had  been  regarded  by 
the  prophet  of  the  Lord.  Naaman  was  a  mighty  man  in 
valour,  but  he  was  a  leper.  The  Church  had  been 
leprous.  In  order  to  wash  it,  the  Eomanists  at  Trent 
boasted  of  their  Abana  and  Pharpar  ;  our  English  re- 
formers would  cleanse  it  by  the  waters  of  Jordan ;  the 
foreign  reformers,  though  they  preferred  the  waters  of 
the  Jordan,  would  have  destroyed  the  man,  and  arrayed 
a  new  creature  of  their  own  fabrication  in  the  splendid 
garments  with  which,  in  the  spirit  of  Gehazi,  they  woul 
have  decorated  him. 

Ecclesiastical  events  are,  from  this  time,  liable  to  b 
confused  in  the  mind  of  a  general  reader,  from  the  wan 
of  a  clear  definition  of  terms  and  titles.     Men  use,  very 
frequently,  one  and  the  same  term  to  express  very  differ- 
ent ideas.     We  may  mention  such  words  as  regenerati 
with  reference  to  one  sacrament,  and  the  real  presen 
with  respect  to  the  other.    So,  again,  with  respect  to  title 


; 


ARCHBISHOPS   OP    CANTERBURY. 

Who,  for  example,  are  the  Catholics  ?     That  title,  the 
English  reformers  could  not  give  to  the  Eomanists,  be- 
cause it  would  imply  that  the  English   reformers  were     parker. 
heretics.     A  heretic,  as  we  have  before  seen,  means,  in    1559-7-3. 
the  vocabulary  of  the  primitive  Church,  a  man  who,  in-  Catholics, 
stead  of  deferring  to  the  tradition  of  the  Church,  inter- 
preted the  Bible  according  to  his  own  private  judgment ; 
and,  as  we  have  already  seen,  and  shall  have  occasion 
hereafter  to  show,   from  the  writings  of  Bishop  Jewel, 
it  was  by  an  appeal  to  primitive  tradition  that  our  re- 
formers silenced  the  Eomanists. 

Then,  again,  who  are  the  Protestants  ?  At  the  early  Protest- 
portion  of  the  Eeformation  period,  Protestant  and 
Lutheran  were  convertible  terms,  and  Protestants,  holding 
the  doctrine  of  consubstantiation,  were  opposed  in  lan- 
guage most  bitter  by  the  Zwinglians  and  Calvinists.  The 
confusion  to  which  we  have  alluded  is  occasioned  by 
readers  applying  to  the  Eeformation  period  the  ideas 
entertained  in  the  nineteenth  century  on  these  and  similar 
subjects.  They  divide  the  religionists  of  England  into  two 
parties,  distinguished  from  each  other  by  a  line  clearly 
defined.  Catholics — by  whom  they  mean  Eomanists — 
and  Protestants,  including  all  who  are  opposed  to  the 
Church  of  Eome,  descending  even  to  Unitarians,  to  whom 
the  name  of  Protestant,  in  strict  propriety,  should  be 
confined,  for  they  carry  the  rights  of  private  judgment 
to  its  extreme  point,  and  protest,  in  many  cases,  not  only 
against  Eomanism,  but  against  fundamental  tenets  of 
Christianity  itself,  leaving  us  a  Christianity  without  a 
Christ. 

It  is  important  to  observe  that,  for  many  years  after  the 
Eeformation  in  England,  there  was  no  Eomish  sect  in 
this  country ;  and  indeed  it  is  only  within  a  few  years 
that  the  Eomanists  gave  to  their  sect,  by  the  introduction 


ve 

; 


02  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,     of  a  schismatical  hierarchy,  the  appearance  of  a  Chur 
—  ,- — -  in  rivalry  to  the  old  Catholic  Church  which  our  ancestors 
Parker,     reformed.      "  Our    forefathers   had,"  says   the   learned 
1559-75.    Bishop    Sanderson,    "  no   purpose,    nor    had    they   any 
warrant  to  set  up  a  new  religion,  but  to  reform  the  old 
by  purging  it  of  those  innovations  which,  in  the  tract  of 
time,  some  sooner,  some  later,  had  mingled  with  it  and 
corrupted  it,  both  in  doctrine  and  worship."     This,  w 
have  to  repeat,  was  the  position  occupied  by  the  Engli 
reformers.     In  the  time   of  Parker,  although  this  w 
their  principle,  they  permitted  the  title  of  Protestant  to 
be  imposed  upon  them.     In  narrating  Parker's  history,  we 
shall  adopt  the  term,  but  with  this  explanation, — that  the 
term  Protestant,  though  still  confined  to  the  Lutherans 
abroad,  was  not  so  employed  in  England.     On  the  Con- 
tinent the  custom  was,  and  in  many  places  still  is,  to 
divide  the  dissentients  from  Eome  into  two  great  classes,— 
the  Protestants  and  the  Eeformed ;  the  Eeformed  meaning 
the  sects  which,  whatever  their  present  tenets,  originated 
in  Calvinism.     In  Parker's  time,  the  word  Protestant  was 
understood  to  denote  the  Eeformed  Church  of  England, 
or  the  Anglo-Catholic  Church.     Opposed  to  the  English 
reformers  stood  the  Puritans,  the  representatives  of  Cal- 
vinism.   We  will  here  repeat  what  has  been  said.     There 
were  the  Anglo-Catholics,  who,  except  when  in  contro- 
versy they  were  obliged  to  come  to  precise  terms,  were 
content  to  be  called  Protestants.    There  were  the  Puritans, 
in  whom  we  find  the  germ  of  what  has  since  been  called 
"  Evangelicalism."     Soon  after  the  first  decade  of  Eliza- 
beth's reign  there  was  the  Eomish  sect — pure  sectarians, 
without  any  hierarchy,  representing,  not  the  primitive 
Church,    but    the    existing    Eoman    government.     The 
English    reformers,  unwisely — for   all   insincerity  is  un- 
wise— were  the  more  willing  to  accept  the  designation  o 


ARCHBISHOPS   OJ 


63 


Protestants,  as  it  enabled  them  the  better  to  make  common 
cause  with  parties  on  the  Continent  opposed  to  Eomanism. 
This  involved  them  in  many  inconsistencies,  and  strength- 
ened the  hands  of  the  Puritans  by  enabling  them  to  appeal, 
their  various  disputes,  to  the  public  opinion  of  conti- 
nental sects.  It  was  productive  of  another  great  evil,  by 
weakening  the  Church  at  home.  When  they  assumed 
the  name  of  Protestants,  there  was  a  large  party,  who, 
accusing  the  English  reformers  of  being  false  to  Protest- 
ant principles,  set  up  independent  and  rival  places  of 
worship.  Others,  desiring  to  obtain  a  share  in  the 
emoluments  of  an  endowed  Church,  conformed  with  great 
discontent,  their  avowed  object  being  to  transmute  the 
old  Catholic  Church  into  a  mere  Protestant  sect.  This 
party,  which,  without  intending  it,  strengthened  the 
Eomish  cause,  has  always  been  the  weakness  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  created  most  of  those  difficulties, 
to  contend  with  which  was  the  business  of  Parker's  life 
throughout  his  archiepiscopate. 


CHAP. 
VI. 

Matthew- 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


64  LIVES   OF    THE 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PAKKEK   AS  A   PASTOR   AND   PREACHER. 

Parker  returns  to  Norwich. — Is  licensed  to  preach. — Becomes  chapl 
to  Anne  Boleyn,  and  Dean  of  Stoke. — Appointed  chaplain  to 
Henry  VIII.— The  deanery  of  Stoke.— Reforms  of  1536-43— 
Statute  of  Six  Articles. — Presented  to  the  living  of  Ashen. — Pre- 
bendary of  Ely.—  Rector  of  Burlingham. — Of  Landbeach. — Is  ac- 
cused of  heresy. — Dr.  Stokes. — Dissolution  of  Stoke. — Parker  is 
appointed  Dean  of  Lincoln. — Marries  Margaret  Harleston. — Reforms 
of  1547  and  1549.— Summoned  to  preach  at  Paul's  Cross. — Dis- 
turbances of  1549. — Rising  in  the  West. — Rett's  insurrection.- 
Parker  during  the  reign  of  Mary. — His  accident. — View  of  his 
character. 


us- 
his 


chap.  In  the  preceding  chapters,  attention  has  been  chiefly 
- — , — -  directed  to  the  academical  life  of  Parker,  and  to  his  studies 
Parked  as  a  divine  ;  we  have  reserved  for  a  separate  chapter  a 
1559-75.  description  of  his  character  as  a  pastor  and  preacher. 
In  treating  of  him  in  this  character,  it  will  be  necessary 
occasionally  to  retrace  our  steps,  for  much  of  what  is 
about  to  be  related  occurred  contemporaneously,  or  nearly 
so,  with  circumstances  already  described.  It  was  pro- 
videntially ordered  that  the  future  reformer  should  be 
trained  for  his  great  work  practically,  as  well  as  theoreti- 
cally. He  learned  that  in  dealing  with  men  we  must, 
while  aiming  at  the  highest  excellence,  be  contented 
sometimes  with  what  the  selfishness  of  friends,  or  the 
malignity  of  opponents,  can  be  allowed  or  compelled 
to  grant.  Having  commenced  a  good  work,  it  becomes 
sometimes  necessary,  with  whatever  amount  of  reluctance 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  65 

or  misrepresentation,  to  leave  it  for  a  future  generation  chap. 

to  effect  or  perfect.  « — r--^ 

Matthew    Parker    having,    it    will    be    remembered,  parked 

graduated  in  the  year  1525,  returned  for  a  short  time  1559-75. 

to  his  native  place.     He  found  a  united  family,  Master  At  Nor- 

wich.. 

Baker  having  proved  himself  a  father  equally  affectionate 
to  his  wife's  children  and  to  his  own.  The  difficulties,  and 
even  the  dangers,  of  travel  were  at  that  time  so  many  and 
so  great,  that  visits,  few  and  far  between,  were  generally 
of  long  duration.  Parker  now  remained  at  home  for  about 
two  years ;  but  he  was  not  the  man  to  pass  his  time  in 
idleness.  I  have  already  traced  his  professional  history 
to  the  15th  of  June,  1527,  when  he  was  ordained  priest. 

His  ordination  did  not  include  a  licence  to  preach.  Priests  not 
Before  the  Eeformation,  as  is  still  in  churches  under  the  preachers.7 
Eoman  obedience,  so  many  of  the  offices  of  religion  are 
reduced  to  a  kind  of  histrionic  display,  and  the  mind  is 
so  dissipated  by  a  conglomeration  of  ceremonial  details, 
that  to  a  large  portion  of  the  clergy  little  time  is  left  for 
the  pursuits  of  learning ;  and,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
literature  was  by  no  means  so  closely  connected  with  the 
clerical  profession  as  at  the  present  time.  Ordination  was 
sought  by  a  large  body  of  men  springing  from  the  lower 
classes  of  society,  and  endowed  with  some  slight  intel- 
lectual power,  as  the  means  of  obtaining  a  scanty  sub- 
sistence more  easily  than  by  manual  labour.  The  upper 
classes  of  the  clergy  were  landed  proprietors,  possessing 
large  estates  in  the  character  of  glebes,  or  through  the 
system  of  fines  ;  and  these  persons  were  employed  in 
high  offices  in  Church  and  State,  seldom  residing  on  their 
benefices.  Under  them  was  the  class  of  clergy  just  de- 
scribed, upon  whom  devolved  the  ordinary  duties  of 
the  ministry,  or  who  were  employed,  as  we  have  before 
had  occasion  to  remark,  in  promoting  litigation  instead  of 

vol.  ix.  1 


66  LIVES   OF   THE 


I 


1533. 


chap,     furthering  the  cause  of  peace  in  the  lower  ecclesiastical 
—  T  '-^  courts.     These   persons  were  not  permitted    to  preach 
ParVerT    without  a  licence,  first  obtained  from  the  bishop ;  for  it 
J559-75.   would  have  been  impossible  to  surmise  beforehand  the 
amount  of  nonsense  to  which  they   might   have   given 
utterance.     As  the  business  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts 
diminished,  and  as  many  of  the  beneficed  clergy  were 
compelled  to  reside  in  their  vicinity,  proctors  became 
discontented:  if,  as  sometimes  happened,  they  had  the 
gift  of  eloquence,  they  became  preachers  of  sedition  ;  and 
many  of  them,  taking  part  in  the  reform  movement,  were 
not  so  much  the  assert ers  of  God's  truth,  as  the  maligner 
of  their  superiors.* 
Parker  The  parties  thus  described  could  only  be  fairly  met  by 

preach.  preachers  selected  from  the  really  learned  members  of  the 
Universities,  among  whom  Parker  already  ranked  high. 
It  is  remarkable,  however,  that  although  Parker  was 
ordained  priest  in  1527,  he  was  not  licensed  to  preach 
till  1533.  This  was  the  year  in  which  Dr.  Cranmer  was 
consecrated  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  To  represent 
Cranmer,  however,  as  at  this  time  a  Protestant,  would  be 
an  anachronism,  of  which  only  the  ignorance  of  ultra- 
Protestantism,  or  the  malice  of  Romanism,  could  be  guilty. 
Cranmer  and  Latimer  would,  at  this  time,  have  been 
among  the  first  to  commit  Parker  to  the  flames,  had  he 
propounded  some  of  those  opinions  for  which  they  them- 
selves, at  a  later  period,  laid  down  their  lives.  Neverthe- 
less, Parker's  appointment  was  significant.  It  is  remark- 
able in  his  history,  that  he  never  sought  high  office, 
although  he  did  not  shrink  from  discharging  its  duties 
when  he  was  duly  called.   He  was  invited  to  be  a  preacher, 


*  It  was  to  meet  the  views  of  this  unlearned  class  of  the  clergy,  wh 
when  the  Bible  was  translated  and  put  in  their  hands,  had  become 
really  religious  and  devout,  that  the  Homilies  were  provided.  They 
were  able  to  read,  though  not  to  write. 


ii 


ARCHBISHOPS   OP   CANTERBURY. 

and  a  zealous  preacher  he  became.  He  was  selected  be- 
cause Cranmer,  as  at  that  time  were  Gardyner  and  Bonner, 
was,  on  the  question  of  the  divorce  of  Queen  Katherine, 
on  the  side  of  the  king  against  the  pope.  The  pulpit  was  1559-75. 
often  employed,  as  is  the  public  press  in  the  present  age, 
to  create  a  public  opinion,  or  to  sustain  it.  Parker  was 
a  safe  man  in  this  respect.     He  was  a  young  man  of 

I  learning,  siding  with  the  king  on  the  divorce  question, 
and  known  to  be  on  the  side  of  progress.  We  may 
truly  say  that  he  was  a  reformer,  even  in  1533,  if  we 
bear  in  mind  that  the  Eeform  party  had  not,  up  to  this 
period,  formed  any  definite  opinions  as  a  class.  It  was 
certainly  not  Protestant,  and,  as  we  have  shown,  it  could 
not  have  been  Calvinistic.  It  was  accused  of  Germanizing ; 
and,  without  being  conscious  of  the  fact,  many  members 

tof  the  party  may  have  coincided  more  or  less  in  the 
opinions  of  Luther. 
Matthew  Parker  noticed,  as  an  important  incident  in  his 
life,  that  he  entered  on  the  office  of  a  preacher  on  the  first 
Sunday  of  Advent,  1533.  On  that  Sunday  he  preached 
at  Grantchester ;  at  Beach,  or  Landbeach,  on  the  second 
Sunday  in  Advent ;  on  the  third  Sunday  at  St.  Bene't's 
church,  Cambridge ;  at  Madingley  on  the  fourth  ;  and 
on  Christmas  Day,  which  fell  this  year  on  a  Sunday,  at 
Barton.  As  these  places  were  in  the  vicinity  of  Cambridge, 
many  University  men  attended,  and  by  them  report  was 
made  of  his  eloquence,  as  well  as  of  his  learning.  The 
Bishop  of  Ely  appointed  him  to  preach  at  his  visitation, 
and  again  in  1534;  and  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
granted  his  licence  to  the  young  divine  to  preach  through- 
out his  province. 

Parker  was  one  of  those  men  who,  conscious  of  certain 
intellectual  powers,  are  pleased  when  distinction  is  justly 
accorded  to  them  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  they  shrink 

f2 


68  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,    from  the  responsibility   of  office.     Many   such   persoi 

x-V*L..  there  are  who  would  prefer  to  be  second  instead  of  fi] 

•PtokerT    *n  command  ;  to  have  the  real  power  of  office,  while  the 

-1.559-75.   semblance  rests  with  another.     If  we  do  the  work,  and 

permit  our  superior  in  office  to  have  the  praise,  there  is 

scarcely  anything  that  we  cannot  accomplish.    Parker  was 

now  happily  situated.     A  leading  man  in  the  University, 

he  was  consulted  as  an  amicus  curice  by  the  chief  people 

in   the  country.     He  knew   himself  to  be  useful  as  a 

preacher,  when  useful  preachers  were  rare  ;  and  he  stood 

aloof  from  that  great  world,  which  appeared  to  him  like 

a  volcano,  fitted  at  any  moment  to  be  in  eruption.     To 

ascend  its  sides  might  lead  to  a  more  expansive  view, 

and  to  an  elevation  in  the  sight  of  men ;  but,  by  the  least 

false  step,  the  unwary  might  be  overwhelmed  with  the 

lava.    He  preferred  to  remain  at  the  mountain's  foot,  and 

to  point  the  way  to  those  who  desired  to  climb. 

chaplain         Every  one  likes  to  be  noticed  by  his  superiors  ;  but,  at 

Anne.een     tne  same  time,  while  he  accepts  the  honour,  a  modest 

1535.         man  may  shrjnk  from  the  responsible  publicity  of  high 

office.     We  can  understand,  then,  the  feelings  with  which 

Parker,  in  March,  1535,  received  the  following  letter  from 

Dr.  Skyp,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Hereford,  and  at  this  time 

almoner  to  Queen  Anne: — 

"  Mr.  Parker,  I  commend  me  heartily  unto  you.  Our  friend 
Master  Betts  is  departed  out  of  this  world.  And  the  Queen's 
Grace  commanded  me  to  write  unto  you  to  the  intent  that  ye 
should  come  up  and  speak  with  her  with  all  the  speed  that  ye 
can.  I  would  ye  might  come  before  Easter  ;  but  if  ye  cannot, 
I  pray  you  in  any  wise  to  be  here  in  the  week  after,  and  then 
shall  ye  know  further  of  her  pleasure.     Thus  fare  ye  well. 

"Your, 

"John  Skipped 

"  From  Hampton  Court, 

"  The  Tuesday  after  Palm  Sunday." 

*  Corresp.  p.  1. 


Boleyn. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 

In  another  letter,  bearing  the  same  date,  Dr.  Skyp  says     chap. 

of  Anne  Boleyn, "  I  think  her  mind  is  to  have  you  her  chap-  v, i— - 

lain.    I  pray  you  resist  not  your  calling,  but  come  in  any     patkerT 
wise,  to  know  further  of  her  pleasure.     Bring  with  you    1559  75, 
a  long  gown,  and  that  shall  be  enough  until  ye  shall  return 
to  Cambridge."     This  summons  Parker  obeyed,  and  in 
due  course  became  chaplain  to  the  queen. 

Anne  Boleyn  has  been  the  subject  of  undue  vituperation  Anne 
on  one  side,  and  of  eulogy,  equally  undeserved,  on  the 
other.  This  has  been  occasioned  by  the  absurd  mistake, 
already  noticed,  of  those  who  drawT  a  clear  and  distinct 
line  between  Eoman  Catholics  and  Protestants.  Foxe, 
Burnet,  and  their  followers  call  Anne  Boleyn  a  Protestant 
queen  ;  and  the  Protestants  immediately  have  credited  her 
with  every  grace  that  can  adorn  the  female  character. 
The  Puritans  forget  the  dissipations  of  her  court,*  which 
were  such  as  to  induce  Sir  Thomas  More  to  predict  the 
shortness  of  her  reign.  But  the  question  arises,  What  is 
meant  by  Protestantism  ?  That  she  was  decidedly  anti- 
papal  must  be  universally  admitted.  By  the  pope  her  mar- 
riage was  declared  to  be  invalid,  and  she  was  in  constant 
alarm,  lest  Henry  should  be  induced  to  reconcile  himself  to 
the  Eoman  see ;  a  proceeding  not  yet  regarded,  by  either 
party,  as  an  impossibility,  especially  if  he  could  liberate 
himself  from  the  fascinations  of  Queen  Anne.  To  the 
anti-papal  party,  which  at  that  time  included  such  men 
as  Gardyner  and  Bonner,  as  well  as  Cranmer,  Eidley,  and 

*  Margaret  Roper,  when  visiting  her  father,  Sir  Thomas  More,  in 
the  Tower,  was  asked  how  Queen  Anne  was  going  on.  "  Faith,  Father," 
she  answered,  "  never  better ;  there  is  nothing  else  in  the  court  but 
dancing  and  sporting."  "  Alas !  Meg,"  he  replied,  "  these  dances  of 
hers  will  prove  such  dances,  that  she  will  spurn  our  heads  off  like 
footballs ;  but  it  will  not  be  long  before  her  own  head  will  dance  the 
same  dance."  Roper's  Life  of  More.  From  the  privy  expenses  of 
King  Henry  VIII.,  it  appears  that  she  was  addicted  to  cards  and  dice. 


70  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap.  Latimer,  she  gave  her  support.  As  indicating  her  attach- 
— r^—>  ment  to  the  reformers,  she  availed  herself  of  the  roys 
Parker*  permission  to  read  the  Bible,  as  it  had  lately  been  pub- 
1 559-75.  lished,  in  the  vulgar  tongue  ;  but  one  step  further  than 
her  husband  she  had  no  inclination  to  advance.  The 
reformers  found  in  him  a  supporter,  when  by  them  he 
was  himself  supported  in  the  question  of  the  divorce.  He 
was  with  them  when  they  preached  against  the  unjust 
usurpations  of  the  Bishop  of  Eome,  and  declared  the  king, 
under  certain  qualifications,  to  be  the  supreme  head  of 
the  Church.  He  supported  them  when,  by  the  suppression 
of  the  monasteries,  they  filled  his  exchequer,  and  weakened 
the  popish  power  by  turning  the  Eegulars  adrift.  With 
similar  feelings  he  supported  them  in  exposing  the  nullity 
of  miracles  ascribed  to  popular  saints,  the  lavish  offerings 
at  whose  shrines  found,  in  his  estimation,  a  better  place 
at  the  gambling  tables  of  royalty.  But  if  Queen  Anne 
had  expressed  a  doubt  on  transubstantiation,  or  purgatory, 
or  the  invocation  of  saints,  or  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy, 
or  auricular  confession,  or  the  seven  sacraments,  the 
royal  controversialist,  proud  of  the  "Assertio  septem  sacra- 
mentorum,  adversus  Martinum  Lutherum"  would  have 
translated  her  from  the  matrimonial  couch  to  the  scaffold. 
When  we  have  accepted  the  seven  sacraments,  tran- 
substantiation, purgatory,  and  the  invocation  of  saints, 
the  Protestant  residuum,  according  to  modern  notions, 
will  be  small  indeed.  Neither  Parker  nor  the  queen  were 
at  this  time  Protestants  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word, 
although  she  may  have  been  willing  to  hear  from  her 
chaplain  that,  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  amendments  were 
required  greater  than  had  hitherto  been  accomplished. 

Having  mentioned  the  faults  in  Queen  Anne's  character, 
we  must  not  leave  unnoticed  her  generosity,  her  extreme 
readiness  to  do  kind  actions,  when,  in  behalf  of  suffering 


ARCHBISHOPS   OP   CANTERBURY.  71 

humanity,  an  appeal  was  made  to  her  charity.     If  the    chap. 

religious  principle  was  not  sufficiently  strong  to  prevent  . A— 

her  from  doing  evil,  yet  she  encouraged  those  religious  p^er^ 
feelings  which  take  pleasure  in  acts  of  devotion.  It  was  1559-75. 
this  part  of  Queen  Anne's  character — her  zeal  against  the 
pope  and  the  ardour  of  her  devotion — which  attached  to 
her  the  ecclesiastics  who  held  office  in  her  court,  but 
were  not  likely  to  mingle  in  those  dissipations  in  which 
their  presence  would  be  acceptable  to  no  one,  and  least 
of  all  to  her.  Acting  under  the  advice  of  Cheke  and 
Parker,  she  supported  several  poor  students  at  the  uni- 
versity ;  and  having  a  command  of  money,  she  devoted 
large  sums  to  charitable  objects. 

As  was  the  case  with  all  who  approached  her,  Parker 
was  evidently  attracted  by  her  charms.  He  only  saw  the 
best  parts  of  her  character.  His  visits  to  court  were  few 
and  far  between,  and  the  period  of  his  chaplaincy  did  not 
extend  much  beyond  a  year.  He  referred  to  her  in  after  life 
with  kindly  feelings,  and  in  several  letters  he  alludes  to  a 
conversation  he  had  with  her  within  six  days  of  her  fall, 
in  which  it  would  seem  that,  anticipating  the  possibility  of 
such  an  event,  she  entreated  him  to  watch  as  a  paternal 
friend  over  her  daughter,  afterwards  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Parker,  at  the  same  time,  commended  himself  to  thejudg-  Chaplain 
ment  of  Henry  VIII.,  for,  having  been  appointed  chaplain  king. 
to  the  queen,  he  was  in  1537  summoned  to  the  court  of  the  1537* 
king,  and  made  his  chaplain.     In  the  king's  regard  for 
Parker,  the  disgrace  of  Queen  Anne  made  no  alteration. 
Henry  VIII.  was  quite  capable  of  appreciating  the  faith- 
fulness of  Parker  to  the  queen,  if  Parker  were  the  author 
of  that  affecting  letter  which,  in  her  last  moments,  Anne 
Boleyn  is  said  to  have  transmitted  to  her  husband.     It 
appears  from  Parker's  correspondence,*  that  he  had  seen 

*  Corresp.  p.  59. 


72  LIVES   OF   THE 

citap.     her  not  long  before  ;  but  Kingston,  in  one  of  his  letters 
— ^— -  Crumwell,  relating  to  the  queen,  speaks  of  her  almoner 
Parker*   having  been  with  her  at  the  last,  and  to  him,  probabh 
.1559-75.   the   document,  if  authentic,  should  be  attributed 

Parker,  alluding  on  several  occasions  to  his  interviews 
with  Anne  Boleyn,  does  not  mention  this  letter,  which  he 
would  hardly  have  failed  to  notice,  if  he  had  been  in  any 
way  concerned  in  it.  We  have  had  occasion  before  to 
remark  on  the  destruction  of  all  the  documents  relating  to 
the  public  trials  of  this  reign.  That  some  dreadful  revelation 
was  made  to  Cranmer,  who  had  come  up  to  London  with 
the  intention  of  defending  her  cause,  in  his  last  interview 
with  Anne  Boleyn,  is  almost  certain ;  but  it  is  equally 
certain  that  Parker  regarded  her  as  innocent,  or  thought 
her  repentance  sincere,  from  an  expression  parenthetically 
made  in  one  of  his  letters,  in  which,  speaking  of  Queei 
Anne,  he  says,  "  whose  soul,  I  doubt  not,  is  in  blesse( 
felicity  with  God."  I  may  mention  here  what  I  have 
not  seen  noticed  by  other  historians,  that,  when  Parker 
was  archbishop,  he  informed  Burghley,  when  writing 
him  in  1572,  confidentially,  that  at  one  time  her  majesty 
the  queen  had  told  him  secretly  of  a  pope's  bull,  whereii 
King  Henry's  marriage  with  Queen  Anne  was  confirme( 
"  She  willed  me,"  wrote  the  archbishop,  "  to  seek  it  oul 
I  did  so  among  mine  old  registers,  and  others  which 
thought  might  have  it.  I  did  it  as  secretly  and  prudently 
as  I  could,  and  to  mine  own  self;  but  I  could  not  hear 
of  it."* 

Officials  were  at  this  time  seldom,  if  ever,  paid  by 
salaries.  The  notion  of  treating  the  clergy  like  trades- 
men, paying  them  so  much  money  for  so  much  work 
done,  had  not  entered  into  the  minds  of  men.      Certain 

*  Lansdowne  -MSS.  xv.  Art.  50.  It  is  possible  that  it  was  the  queen's 
intention  simply  to  mystify  the  archbishop. 


It 

S 

id 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  73 

landed  estates  were  held  by  persons  in  holy  orders,  to 
which  was  assigned  the  performance  of  certain  duties  by 
the  beneficiary  himself,  or  his  deputy.* 

The  deanery  of  Stoke  by  Clare  was  attached  by  1559-75. 
custom  to  the  office  of  queen's  chaplain.  The  deanery 
had  been  held  by  "  Master  Betts,"  and  by  his  predecessor, 
the  chaplain  of  Queen  Katharine.  When  Catherine  Parr 
shared  the  throne  of  Henry  VIII.,  she  evidently  thought 
that  her  connection  with  the  college  was  so  close,  that 
in  its  concerns  she  had  a  right  to  interfere.  On  one 
occasion  we  find  her  recommending  a  bailiff,  and  on 
another  she  interfered  to  obtain  the  beneficial  lease  of  a 
manor  for  one  of  her  friends.  The  requests  are  grace- 
fully preferred ;  but  coming  from  the  queen  of  Henry  VIII., 
they  were  regarded,  of  course,  in  the  light  of  commands.f 

Stoke  by  Clare,  or  Stoke  next  Clare,  was  originally  Dean  of 
an  alien  priory — in  fact,  a  cell  of  the  celebrated  abbey  1535/ 
of  Bee.  Its  founder  was  Eichard  of  Tonbridge,  or 
of  Clare,  Earl  of  Hertford.  In  the  year  1124,  he  trans- 
lated the  Benedictine  monks  of  Bee,  whom  his  father  had 
placed  in  his  castle  of  Clare,  first  into  the  parish  church 
of  St.  Augustine,  and  afterwards  to  this  priory,  which  he 
endowed  with  the  manor  of  Stoke  Hoe.  It  was  released 
in  1395  by  Eichard  II.  from  its  subjection  to  the  foreign 
abbey  of  Bee,  and  it  became  indigena  on  the  payment  of 
1,000  marks,  which  were  appropriated  in  aid  of  the  new 
works  at  St.  Peter's,  Westminster.^     In  1415,  Edmund 

*  Within  the  memory  of  the  writer  of  these  pages,  the  royal  chaplains 
had  a  table  provided  for  them  in  the  king's  palace,  and  this  honour  was 
their  sole  remuneration.  They  now  receive  a  fixed  salary,  and  their 
table  is  discontinued.  The  professional  man  receives  an  honorarium; 
the  tradesman  demands  pay. 

f  The  letters  are  preserved  among  the  MSS.  of  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge. 

X  Monast.  Anglic,  and  Richard  Taylor's  Index   Monasticus. 


I 


74  LIVES  OF   KHfl 

chap.     Mortimer,  Earl  of  March,  its  patron,  obtained  the  roy* 

VII  •     •  • 

- — ,-^   permission  to  change  this  into  a  college  of  secular  priests. 

ParkeaT    Tne  constitutions  were  drawn  up  in  1422  by  Thomas 

1559-75.   Barneslay,  at  that  time  dean.     The  college  consisted  of  a 

dean,  from  six   to  ten  prebendaries,  eight  vicars,  four 

clerks,  six  choristers.   It  was  pleasantly  situated  in  a  close, 

surrounded  by  six  acres  of  land  and  an  orchard.     It  was 

richly   endowed  with  lands,  rents,  tithes,  portions,  and 

pensions  in  fifty-six  parishes.     Among  the  endowments 

was  the  payment  of  8,000  eels  annually  from  Fordiam 

and  Lackenheath. 

For  the  next  twelve  or  thirteen  years  Stoke  by  Clare 
was  the  happy  home  of  Matthew  Parker.  Here  he  de- 
lighted to  gather  his  friends  around  him  ;  and  by  one  of 
them,  Walter  Haddon,  his  residence  at  Stoke  was  called 
"  Parker's  Tusculanum ; "  a  place  which  seemed,  as  it 
were,  created  for  scholars,  both  to  receive  and  impart 
instruction — a  locus  ad  delectationes  honestas  et  ingenuas 
aptissimus.  An  occasional  supply  of  venison  from  the 
royal  forests  enabled  Parker  to  entertain  his  neighbours. 
Among  his  papers  we  find  a  mandate  of  Henry  VIII.  to 
"  Master  Forester,  of  our  forest  of  Weybridge,  desiring 
him  to  deliver,  or  cause  to  be  delivered,  unto  our  trusty 
and  well-beloved  Matthew  Parker,  chaplain  to  our  dearest 
wife  the  queen,  one  doe  of  season." 

When  Parker  became  archbishop  he  had  a  right  to 
claim  a  certain  number  of  bucks  from  the  different  royal 
parks;  and,  on  one  occasion,  he  received  "a  great  and  a  fat 
stag,"  killed  by  the  fair  hand  of  Queen  Elizabeth  herself, 
and  forwarded,  by  her  express  command,  through  Lord 
Eobert  Dudley.*  While  he  was  at  Stoke,  his  larder  was 
frequently  supplied  by  the  kind  consideration  of  the 
queen  consort,  and,  with  a  command  of  eels  at  all  times, 

*  Corresp.  p.  190. 


ni 

5 
I 

fli 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  75 

found   no  difficulty  in  keeping   up   that  hospitality,     chap. 

rhich  implied  the  providing  board  at  a  common  table  to   — ^— - 
all  who  lodged  within  the  precincts  of  the  college.     Into     ptrkerT 
his  garden  he  introduced  the  tuberose  and  the  pink,  and    1559-75. 
galed  his  friends  occasionally  upon  apricots,  which  had 

een  lately  introduced  from  Epirus. 
When  the  report  prevailed  that  monasteries  and  re- 
ligious  houses   were   in   danger,  the   hypocrisy  of  the 
onks  being  more  offensive  to  the  people  than  the  pro- 

igacy  of  the  courtiers  who  sought  to  supersede  them, 
Parker  felt  that  the  only  chance  of  securing  the  perma- 
nency of  establishments  such  as  that  over  which  he  was 
presiding,  was  to  adapt  them  to  the  requirements  of  the 
age.  His  first  attempt  as  a  reformer  was  now  made. 
He  established  a  grammar  school,  in  which  the  children 
of  the  neighbourhood  were  to  be  brought  up  in  all  the 
studies  of  humanity.  He  provided  a  yearly  stipend  for 
the  master,  and  procured  for  him  learned  assistance. 
According  to  the  custom  of  the  age,  the  wealthy  were 
required  to  pay  in  money.  Poorer  persons,  desiring  a 
learned  education,  offered  their  services  for  the  discharge 
of  the  menial  offices.  It  was  counted  no  shame  in  that 
age  for  persons  who  had  not  money,  to  act  as  servitors; 
and  the  opulent,  upon  whom  they  waited,  readily  received 
them  on  equal  terms  to  the  same  classes  as  themselves. 
Parker's  school,  under  his  superintendence,  soon  became 
popular.  He  required  the  prebendaries,  all  of  them,  to  be 
preachers,  and  sent  them,  from  time  to  time,  to  preach  the 
gospel  in  parishes  in  which  the  college  had  estates.  The 
boys  in  the  school  were  taught  to  sing  and  to  play  upon 
the  organs.  The  statutes  were  considered  to  be  models 
of  what  such  statutes  ought  to  be,  and  wrere  translated 
by  Sir  John  Cheke,  who,  on  the  dissolution  of  the  college, 
became  one  of  the  grantees. 


76  LIVES   OF   THE 


chai\         Parker,  who  never  hurried  anything,  readily  adopted 
v_ — ,-1— *  all  the  improvements  of  the  age,  as  they  were  forcet 
Parker*    upon  Henry  VIII. ;  and  progress,  during  this  reign,  was,  i 
1559-75.   point  of  fact,  greater  than  is  generally  supposed.    In  1536 
Creed  and   he  readily  obeyed  the  royal  injunction;  and  having  ol 
noster  in     tained  copies  of  the  translations  lately  made  of  the  Cree 
tou^uegar    the  Decalogue,  and  the  Paternoster,  caused  them  to  b 
1536.         reac|  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  in  all  the  churches  in  whic 
he  had  influence,  or  over  which  he  had  control.      I 
a.d.  1537.    1537  he  took  a  deep  interest  in  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant publications  of  the  period,  "  The  Godly  and  Pio 
Institution  of  a   Christian  Man,"  commonly  called  th 
Bishops'  Book.      In  all  the  parishes  within  the  peculia 
jurisdiction  of  the  Dean  of  Stoke,  he  adopted  the  paris 
registers  in  accordance  with  the  instructions  issued  b 
a.d.  1538.    Crumwell  in   1538.      He   accepted   with  pleasure,  an 
a.d.  1543.    acted  upon  it,  the  royal  mandate  which,  in  1543,  directe 
the  Litany  to  be  said  in  English.     However  much  dis- 
appointed he  may  have  been  in  the  reactionary  spirit 
manifested  in  the  King's  Book,  he  received  compensation 
when,  in  1545,  the  Primer  made   its  appearance,  con- 
taining a  form  of  prayer  for  morning  and  evening,  in  th 
English  tongue. 

A  deep  mortification  awaited  Parker  on  the  enactmen 
of  the  Statute  of  Six  Articles.  Mixing,  at  that  time,  in 
general  society,  he  had  won  the  affections  of  one  who  was 
a  lady  by  birth  and  education,  and  the  only  impediment 
to  their  marriage  was  offered  by  this  statute.  We  have 
had  occasion  before  to  remark,  that  Parker  was  thought 
of  as  likely  to  be  a  bishop  when,  in  1541,  the  sees  of  Peter- 
borough, Oxford,  and  Gloucester  were  established,  the 
bishoprics  of  Bristol  and  Chester  being  constituted  in  the 
<  following  year.  From  his  determination  to  enter  into  the 
holy  estate  of  matrimony,  we  can  account  for  his  refusal. 


: 


AKCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  77 

ough  he  was  much  too  cautious  to  marry  in  defiance     chap. 
of  the  law,  it  was  the  general  opinion,  that  the  Statute  of  - — ,— ^ 
Six  Articles  was  only  a  temporary  and  minatory  measure ;     pLkerT 
and  he  entertained  little  doubt  that,  ere  long,  the  govern-    1559-75. 
ment  would  see  the  wisdom  of  conniving,  to  say  the  least 
of  it,  at  the  marriage  of  the  clergy.     Although  among 
thinking  men  the  demoralization  of  the  clergy  was  attri- 
buted in  part  to  their  constrained  celibacy,  yet  it  is  aston- 
ishing to  observe  how  long  a  prejudice  against  clerical 
marriages  existed.    The  marriage  of  a  bishop  would  have 
created  a  disturbance  in  the  public  mind.     Even  to  a  very 
late  period  such  marriages  have  been  rare.     Determined, 
therefore,  to  marry,  Parker  thought  it  expedient  to  de- 
cline a  bishopric.     Looking  forward  to  the  establishment 
of  a  family,  he  preferred  making  provision  for  it  by  an 
accumulation  of  several  smaller  preferments  to  the  acqui- 
sition of  one  calculated  to  excite  the  envious  passions  of 
his  contemporaries.     The  prejudice  against  pluralities  did 
not  at  that  time  exist.     So  long  as  a  good  man  was  pro- 
vided to  discharge  parochial  duties,  the  parishioners  made 
no  inquiry  as  to  the  terms  upon  which  he  entered  on 
an  engagement  with  his  principal.     It  was  not  till  the 
clergy  were  surrounded  with  large  families  that  such  a 
question   arose.     Before   that   time,  a  man   engaged  in 
the  public  service,  either  in  Church  or  State,  was  put  to 
expenses   which   he  met   by  an  accumulation   of  small 
benefices.     The  unambitious  man,  preferring  private  life, 
and  having  no  family  claims  upon  him,  was  content  when 
food  and  raiment  were  provided  for  him.     Parker  there- 
fore, without   any  compunctious  visi tings  of  conscience, 
records  that,  in  1542,  he  was  presented  to  the  living  of  Rector  of 
Ashen  in  Essex.     About  the  same  time,  when  the  king  1542. ' 
was  establishing  secular  priests  in  the  cathedral  of  Ely,  he  Pr- 
emised Parker  to  be  installed  in  the  second  prebend  esta-  of  Ely. 

1542! 


78  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap.     Wished  in  that  church.     In  1544  Parker  resigned  Ashci 

^ — r_  and  was  presented,  probably  in  exchange,  to  the  rectory- 
Parked  °f  Burlingham,  in  his  native  county  of  Norfolk.  In 
1559-75.    1545  he  obtained  the  living  of  Landbeach  from  Corpus 

Eectoi  of    Christi  College,  of  which  he  had  become  master  in  1544. 

ham!ng  Although  Parker,  until  the  year  1547,  divided  his  time 
chiefly  between  Stoke  and  Cambridge,  he  felt  it  his  duty 

wT-r  °f    t0  visit  occasionally  his  other  benefices ;  and  he  desire 


3d, 


15451'        therefore,  to  concentrate  his   preferments  either  in  tl 
vicinity  of  Cambridge,  or  near  his  home  in  Norfolk. 

At  this  time  he  was  indefatigable  as  a  preacher,  and  as 
preachers  were  few,  and  the  prevalent  ignorance  was  great, 
he  was  rejoicing  in  the  thought  of  his  having  become  an 
instrument  in  the  Divine  hand  for  promoting  God's  glory, 
the  good  of  his  Church,  and  the  benefit  of  his  fellow- 
creatures.  But  wherever  the  servants  of  God  are  active, 
the  author  of  evil,  the  accuser  of  the  brethren,  is  diligent, 
by  himself  or  through  his  agents,  to  frustrate  their  labours, 
and  to  raise  against  them  a  persecution.  Some  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Clare,  under  the  leadership  of  one  George 
Accused  Colt,  accused  Dr.  Parker  of  heresy  before  the  Lord 
i539MSy*  Chancellor  Audley.  Having  pointed  out  that  the  splen- 
did ceremonials  of  Easter  Day  were  a  vain  pageant,  unless 
they  were  an  indication  that  they  who  took  part  in  them 
were  dead  to  sin,  and  determined  to  walk  in  newness  of 
life,  Dr.  Parker  was  accused  of  turning  into  ridicule  the 
ceremonies  of  that  blessed  festival.  Having  preached  that, 
for  those  who  had  no  regard  for  the  mystery  of  the  Cross, 
it  was  mere  superstition  to  worship  the  wood  of  the  Cross, 
he  was  accused  of  denying  the  atonement.  At  the  time 
of  the  Pilgrimages  of  Grace,  and  of  the  rising  in  Lincoln- 
shire under  the  Prior  of  Barlings,  Parker  exhorted  the 
people  to  contribute  with  cheerfulness  towards  the  ex- 
penses of  war,  since,  without  incurring  such  expenses,  tlic 


AECHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 


79 


CHAP. 
VII. 


Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


:ing  could  not  maintain  the  peace  of  the  realm.  He  was 
now  accused  of  asserting  that,  by  the  money  levied  from 
the  commons,  the  king  purchased  a  dishonourable  peace. 
Not  only  were  these  charges  pronounced  to  be  frivolous 
and  vexatious,  but  a  kind  message  was  sent  to  Parker  by 
the  Lord  High  Chancellor,  "to  go  on,  and  not  to  fear 
such  enemies."*  Very  different  was  the  treatment  which 
Parker  received  from  his  diocesan,  Dr.  Nykke. f  There 
was  a  party  in  Clare  who  regarded  with  alarm  the  reform- 
ing principles  of  the  Dean  of  Stoke,  and  whose  desire  it 
was  to  counteract  his  influence.  With  this  object  in  view, 
they  obtained  from  the  bishop  a  licence  to  preach  for 
Dr.  Stokes,  who  was  a  man  of  mark,  being  a  D.D.  of  Dr.  stokes 
Cambridge  and  prior  of  the  Austin  Friars  at  Norwich. J 
Upon  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Stokes  at  Clare,  Parker  addressed 
to  him  a  letter,  in  which  he  stated,  "  that  if  he  came  to 
decry  the  truth  which  Parker  had  preached,  or  to  make 
invectives  to  the  decay  of  the  king's  authority  and  lawful 
ordinances,  or  to  sow  schism  and  confusion  among  the 
people,"  he,  Parker,  "  must  and  would,  according  to  his 
duty,  give  information  against  him ;  but  that  if  it  were 
his  intention  to  declare  the  truth  and  edify  the  king's 


*  See  a  note  in  Parker's  own  hand,  on  his  letter  to  Dr.  Stokes,  pre- 
served in  the  library  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge. 

•f  Richard  Nykke  was  consecrated  to  the  see  of  Norwich  in  1501,  and 
died  on  the  14th  of  January,  1536.  He  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Rugg  or 
Reps.  Strype  must  therefore  be  in  error,  when  he  represents  Dr.  Stokes 
as  sent  to  preach  against  Parker  in  1537  by  Bishop  Nix,  as  he  calls  him. 
Rugg  was  a  mere  timeserver,  and  it  is  difficult  to  conjecture  why  he 
should  take  part  against  Parker  after  Lord  Audley's  judgment.  The 
measures  were  probably  taken  by  Bishop  Nykke,  whose  successor  let 
things  take  their  course. 

X  Parker  MSS.,  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  cviii.  Art.  38. 
Draft  of  answer.  The  date  is  not  given  ;  but,  as  Audley  was  made 
Chancellor  on  the  29th  of  November,  1538,  we  may  probably  date  the 
letter  in  1539. 


80  lives  of  Tin: 

chap,     subjects,  he  would  promise  to  join  hands  with  him  an( 

,    vn-  ,  live  on  friendly  terms."  *     The   letter   is  too   long  foi 

p^k1  pW    transcr^Pti°n  I  but,  for  style  and  temper,  it  does  much  credil 

1559-75.   to  the  writer ;  the  more  so,  since,  in  the  life  of  Cardinal 

Pole,  we  have  had  instances  of  the  extreme  violence  oi 

language    in   which    controversialists    in    the    sixteenth 

century  indulged.     This  advice,  Dr.  Stokes  was  not  wise 

enough  to  follow.     He  rendered  himself  obnoxious  to  the 

king's  government,  and  was  for  a  short  time  imprisoned. 

He  was  not  a  straightforward  man,  for  when,  among  other 

things,  allusion  was  made  to  his  exciting  an  unnecessary 

controversy  against  Parker,  Dr.  Stokes,  in  writing  to  the 

Lord  Privy  Seal,  denied  that  he  had  done  so,  although  it 

wag  known  that  he  was  sent  to  Clare  for  the  very  purpose 

of  counteracting  the  effects  of  Parker's  preaching. 

Parker's  favour  with  the  government  was  manifested 
when  he  received  a  summons  from  the  Lord  Privy  Seal 
to  preach  at  Paul's  Cross.  The  appointment  was  a  gra- 
tifying one,  as  the  Lord  Privy  Seal  expressly  stated,  that 
it  was  made  "  out  of  respect  to  the  honest  report  of  Par- 
ker's learning  in  holy  letters,  and  incorrupt  judgment  in 
the  same." 
Dissolution  In  1545,  Parker  heard,  with  astonishment  and  alai 
threSed.  tnat  tne  possessions  of  colleges,  of  hospitals,  and  of  all 
1545.  institutions  that  could  be  brought  under  the  denomina- 
tion of  a  religious  house,  were  to  form  part  of  that  con- 
fiscation of  ecclesiastical  property,  by  which  the  royal 
coffers  might  be  filled.  It  was  at  the  option  of  the  king 
to  seize  the  property  of  any  religious  house,  except  a 
cathedral,  or  for  a  consideration  to  spare  it.  Parker 
read  in  this  iniquitous  act  of  Parliament  the  doom  of 
Stoke  next  Clare,  unless  he  exerted  himself  for  its  pre- 
servation, and  in  his  exertions  he  was  successful. 

*  E.  Bibliotliec.  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge.  -  Miscellan. 


t  in 
trm, 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  81 

arker  was  aware  that,  if  he  were  ejected  from  this     chap. 
deanery,  he  would  receive  compensation  by  the  offer  of  « — ^— < 
higher   preferment ;  but   his   attachment   to   his   native     Parker. 
county  prevented  him  from  listening  to  the  most  favour-    1559-75. 
able  terms.     Nothing,  indeed,  could  compensate  him  for 
the  loss  of  a  home,  rendered  "  the  more  homely  "  by  his 
good  taste,  and  surrounded  by  orchards  and  gardens  where 
the  scholar  had  composed  those  discourses  by  which  his 
name  had  already  become  famous,  and  through  which 
many  had  been  led  to  seek  the  one  thing  needful.     That 
home  he  had  been  preparing  for  a  wife ;  for  Margaret 
Harleston  and  Matthew  Parker  had  long  been  attached  to 
one  another,  and  were  patiently  "  biding  their  time,"  until 
the  king's  changeful  mind  and  the  persuasions  of  Cranmer 
had  again  rendered  the  marriage  of  the  clergy  legal. 

The  person  who,  next  to  the  dean,  was  interested  in 
the  preservation  of  Stoke  College,  was  the  queen  consort. 
The  college,  as  we  have  before  remarked,  was  under 
her  patronage ;  and,  if  it  were  dissolved,  together  with 
other  establishments  of  the  same  kind,  her  chaplain  would 
in  future  have  to  be  paid  out  of  the  privy  purse,  or,  as  was 
already  the  case  with  the  king's  chaplains,  the  remu- 
neration would  consist  solely  in  the  honour  conferred. 
Parker  succeeded  in  interesting  Henry's  sixth  wife,  Cathe- 
rine Parr,  in  the  fate  of  his  college.  It  was  easy  to  justify 
her  interference.  Stoke  College  was  situated  in  the  midst 
of  the  queen's  tenants,  and,  on  this  account,  the  patron- 
age had  been  conceded  to  her.  In  the  hospitality  of 
the  college,  and  the  civilizing  society  of  its  inmates,  the 
wealthier  tenants  found  edification  and  amusement,  at  a 
time  when  the  metropolis  was  seldom  visited,  and  these 
institutions  might  be  regarded  as  civilized  colonies  in 
different  parts  of  the  world.  The  labourers  on  the  estate, 
in  the  mean  time,  were  accustomed  to  apply  to  the  college 

VOL.  IX.  G 


82  LIVES   OF   THE 


chap,  in  all  their  difficulties  and  distresses,  and,  by  the  charity 
^- — ^— '  there  liberally  displayed,  the  queen's  exchequer  was  span 
Parked  expenses,  from  which  it  would  have  otherwise  been  unab] 
1559-75.  to  escape.  All  received  instruction,  and  that  at  a  tim 
when,  in  the  excitement  of  the  age,  good  instruction  w 
specially  needed.  In  addressing  the  queen,  and  soliciti 
her  interposition,  Parker  referred  with  satisfaction  to  the 
exertions  of  the  dean  and  his  prebendaries.  High  and 
low,  her  tenants  were  gratuitously  instructed  in  the  new 
learning ;  and  such  had  been  their  hospitality,  that  persons 
coming  from  a  distance,  on  the  queen's  business,  would 
remain  at  Stoke  with  their  suites  for  seven  or  eight  days, 
making  the  college  their  home.  These  facts  were  laid 
before  the  queen,  and  in  pleading  the  cause  of  her  college 
she  was  successful  with  Henry  VIII.  What  was  prac- 
ticable under  Henry  VIII.  became  impossible  when  the 
queen  consort  had  become  the  queen  dowager,  and  a 
new  kennel  of  courtiers  were  let  loose  upon  the  Church 
to  devour  it.  The  property,  which  had  hitherto  supported 
many,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  which  the  poorest  man  on 
the  estate  might  hope  to  see  his  son  have  a  slfare,  was 
now  transferred  to  another  class  of  society,  and  the  poor, 
unconsciously  wronged,  were  taught  to  approve  of  a  sys- 
tem which  only  tended  to  further  the  selfishness  of  the 
wealthy  few. 
Ousted  The  confiscation  took  place ;  but,  except  for  the  extreme 

stoke.  inconvenience  of  being  turned  out  of  his  home,  Parker 
had  few  grounds  of  complaint  personally.  The  confis- 
cated estate  was  purchased  by  a  college  friend,  Sir  John 
Cheke ;  and  the  pension  of  forty  pounds  a  year,  with  which 
it  was  saddled,  was  paid  regularly  to  the  ousted  dean. 
He  had  to  quit  his  home  in  obedience,  as  he  expresses  it, 
Dean  of  to  an  act  of  Parliament,  on  the  1st  of  April,  1547. 
1552!      the  way  of  compensation  he  was,  in  1552,,  appointed 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  83 

deanery  of  Lincoln.     He  retained  the  mastership  of    chap. 
Corpus  Christi  College,  to  which,  it  will  be  recollected,  he  -   VIL_- 
was  appointed  in  1544.  ^kheerw 

Parker  immediately  started  for  his  new  deanery,  and    1559-75. 

Ivas  installed  in  person.     After  this  he  divided  his  time 
>etween  Lincoln  and  Cambridge,  making  occasional  visits 
0  his  friends  in  Norwich. 
Although  the  new  reign,  and  the  avarice  of  Edward  VI. 's 
ounsellors,  drove  Parker  from  the  home  he  loved,  he 
was,  nevertheless,  able  to  console  himself  by  a  marriage 
with  the  lady  to  whom  he  had  been  engaged  for  seven 
years.     The   act,   indeed,  authorizing   the   marriage   of 
the  clergy,  was  not  obtained  until  the  year  1549  ;  but 
Parker  felt  so  sure  that  the  privilege  could  not  be  with- 
held, that,  on  the  24th  of  June,  1547,  he  became  the  happy  Married. 
husband  of  Margaret  Harleston.    The  law,  as  it  then  stood,  1647, 
regarded  clerical  marriages  as  voidable,  but  not  void ;  and 
when  Parker  heard  that  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
was  awaiting  at  Dover  the  arrival  of  Mrs.  Cranmer  from 
the  Continent,  he  felt  sure  that  the  penalties  to  which  a 
married  clerk  was   still  liable   would  not  be  enforced. 
He  was  in  his  forty-third  year  when  he  led  to  the  altar 
Mistress  Margaret,  the   daughter  of  Eobert   Harleston, 
esquire,  in   the   county  of  Norfolk.     She   was   twenty- 
eight  years  of  age.     Never  was  man  more  fortunate  in 
his  marriage.     A  lady  by  birth  and  manners,  Mrs.  Parker, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  age,  had  received  an  edu- 
cation which  enabled  her  to  sympathize  with  her  husband 
in  his  studies  and  ecclesiastical  pursuits  ;  at  the  same  time 
she  was  endowed  with  such  sound  common  sense,  that 
she  so  managed  his  household  affairs  as  to  enable  him 
to  keep  hospitality,  and  maintain  his  dignity  as  a  lord 
spiritual,  without  being  involved  in  debt.     When,  during 
the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  Parker  was  reduced  in  circum- 

g2 


I 


8-1  LIVES    OF   THE 

chap,     stances,  and  with  an  increasing  family  found  it  difficult 
— r— -  make  both  ends  meet,  she  contrived  to  render  the  home 
Parker*    her  husband  comfortable,  and,  with  a  decreasing  income, 
.1559-75.   still  to  maintain  the  respectability  of  the  family.     The 
kindness  with  which,  in  Edward  VI. 's  time,  she  enter- 
tained her  husband's  guests  in  his  college  at  Cambridge 
is  incidentally  and  gratefully  mentioned  by  some  of  his 
correspondents. 

The  master's  lodge  at  Corpus  Christi  College  was  the 
first  place  to  which  men  of  learning  and  piety  repaired, 
when  circumstances  brought  them  to  Cambridge.  It  was 
to  his  friend  Dr.  Parker's  house  that  Martin  Bucer  repaired, 
when  he  happened  to  be  in  want  of  a  dinner ;  and,  whei 
he  was  in  need  of  money  to  pay  his  bills,  it  was  t( 
Dr.  Parker's  purse  that  he  had  recourse.  To  the  enter- 
tainment of  her  husband's  guests,  Mrs.  Parker  contributed 
by  her  ready  wit,  her  genial  courtesy,  and  a  conversation 
replete  with  common  sense.  Even  grave  divines  like 
Bishop  Eidley  condescended  to  pay  compliments  t( 
Mrs.  Parker ;  and  much  is  implied  in  the  appellation, 
when  that  great  prelate  would  speak  jocosely  of  "  Par- 
ker's lady  abbess."  When,  in  after  times,  and  in  th< 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  Mrs.  Parker  was  called  upon  to  preside 
over  the  household  of  the  first  peer  of  the  realm,  royalty 
only  excepted,  we  are  told  that,  in  Parker's  palace,  every- 
thing was  done  nobly  and  splendidly.  To  her  manage- 
ment the  archbishop  left  everything ;  and,  while  she  was 
economical  in  her  arrangements,  she  knew  that  her  hus- 
band's was  a  generous  spirit,  and  in  his  generosity  she 
cordially  sympathized. 

The  quiet  manner  in  which  such  men  as  Cranmer  and 
Parker  consented,  for  a  time,  to  separate  from  their  wives, 
or  to  defer  their  marriage,  confirms  what  has  been  stated 
in  the  life  of  Cranmer,  that,  by  those  who,  were  at  the 


;  ine 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  85 

head  of  affairs,  the  Statute  of  Six  Articles  was  regarded  as     chap. 
only  a  temporary  measure,  necessary  to  meet  the  violent  — — ^— - 
aggressions  of  the  Anabaptists,  but  sure  to  be  repealed     pttrkeaT 
when  its  purpose  had  been  answered.      It  was  like  a    1559-75. 
suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  in  modern  times. 
We  may  feel  assured  of  this,  that  if  measures  of  reform 
had  not  been  privately,  and  by  the  king's   connivance, 
prepared  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  have  effected  those  reforms,  which   were  Reforms  of 
almost  instantaneously  enacted,  when,   on   the  28th  of 
January,  1547,  Edward  VI.  ascended  the  throne.     The 
Statute  of  Six  Articles  was  immediately  repealed.     The 
first  book  of  Homilies,  already  composed,  was  now  pub- 
lished, and  through  these  Homilies  some  of  the  chief 
doctrines  of  the  Eeformation  were  promulgated.     The 
sacrament  of  the  altar  was,  according  to  primitive  usage, 
administered  in  both   kinds.     Proclamations  were   soon 
after  issued  against  superstitious  observances,  most  ob- 
noxious to  the  reformers,  such  as  carrying  candles  on 
Candlemass   Day,  and  ashes   on  Ash  Wednesday ;    and 
orders  were  given  for  the  removal  of  images,  wherever 
they  had  been   treated  with   superstitious   respect.     In  Reforms  of 
1548  a  commission  was  issued  to  certain  of  the  bishops, 
with  whom  were  associated  other  divines,  whose  business 
it  was  to  subject  to  a  careful  examination,  the  Breviary, 
the  Missal,  the  Manual,  and  other  office   books  of  the 
Church,  with  a  view  to  their  translation  into  the  vulgar 
tongue,  and  the  cutting  off  of  all  false  doctrine.* 

So  well  prepared  were  these  divines,  by  previous  study 
and  consultation,  for  the  great  work,  to  execute  which 

*  The  Breviary  contained  the  daily  services,  including  the  lessons. 
The  Missal  contained  the  service  for  the  Holy  Communion,  including 
the  Epistle  and  Gospel.  The  Manual  contained  the  Offices  of  Baptism, 
Visitation  of  the  Sick,  and  other  rites  and  ceremonies. 


86  lives  OF  Tin: 

chap,     they  were  commissioned,  that,  in  about  seven  months' 
time,  that   is  to  say,  at  the  end  of  November,   1548, 


1549. 


^alkherW  Dr.  Parker  received  at  Cambridge  a  copy  of  the  book  o 
1559-75.  Common  Prayer,  commonly  described  as  the  First  Book 
of  Edward  VI.  Everything  was  done  in  that  orderly 
manner  which  was  always  satisfactory  to  the  mind  of 
Parker.  By  the  commissioners  it  had  been  submitted  to 
Convocation ;  by  Convocation  it  was  sent  to  the  king  in 
council ;  by  the  Privy  Council  it  was  laid  before  the  great 
council  of  the  nation  assembled  in  Parliament ;  by  Parlia- 
ment it  was  incorporated  into  an  act — the  first  Act  of 
First  Uniformity.  This  act,  embodying  the  Prayer  Book 
Book.  exactly  as  it  was  sent  up  by  Convocation,  was  passed  at 
the  end  of  January,  1549  ;  and,  on  the  following  Whit- 
Sunday,  it  was  taken  into  general  use.  Thus  were  super- 
seded those  various  Uses  which  had  hitherto  prevailed  in 
our  Church,  and  one  form  of  worship  was  adopted 
throughout  the  land.  To  divines  like  Parker,  whose 
minds  had  been  uncontaminated  by  foreign  controversies, 
or  by  contact  with  what  Parker  calls  "  Germanical 
natures,"  this  book  was  entirely  satisfactory  ;  the  ancient 
religious  formularies  were  blended  into  one,  unscriptural 
superstitions  were  tacitly  abolished,  medieval  observances 
were  superseded  by  primitive  practice,  and  all  was  trans- 
lated into  a  language  "  understanded  of  the  people."  It 
seemed  that  a  work  of  wonder  had  been  accomplished, 
and  that  all  that  was  required  was  to  reform  the  other 
offices  of  the  Church  in  deference  to  the  primitive  and 
scriptural  principles  hitherto  observed.  Consequently,  in 
the  same  year,  a  commission  was  issued  to  six  prelates  and 
six  divines,  for  the  reformation,  revision,  and  translation 
of  the  Ordinal,  in  which  it  was  proclaimed,  that  to  all  men 
diligently  reading  the  Holy  Scripture  and  ancient  authors, 
it  was  evident  that,  from  the  Apostles'  time,  there  had 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  87 

been  these   orders   of   ministers   in   Christ's    Church —     chap. 
bishops,  priests,  and  deacons  :  bishops,  with  the  power  of 


handing  on  the  apostolical  succession ;  priests,  with  the  ^f^er! 
power  of  consecrating  the  eucharist ;  deacons,  with  the  1559-75. 
honourable  office  of  assisting  the  other  two  orders ;  so 
careful  were  our  early  reformers  to  carry  on  the  apos- 
tolical succession,  or,  in  other  words,  to  show  that  their 
object  was,  not  to  establish  a  new  sect,  but  to  reform 
their  ancient  Church. 

Unfortunately  for  the  Church  and  the  realm,  "  Ger- 
manical  principles,"  together  with  Zwinglianism,  were 
found  to  be  more  prevalent  in  England  among  the 
learned  few,  than  was  expected  or  desired.  Men  at  the 
head  of  affairs,  like  Somerset  and  Cranmer,  had  formed 
no  definite  principles  of  their  own,  and  were  easily  moved 
by  every  wind  of  strange  doctrine.  Not  content  with  the 
verdict  of  learned  Englishmen,  they  invited  to  England 
foreign  teachers,  who,  although  they  did  not  agree  among 
themselves,  were  accustomed  to  find  fault  with  every- 
thing, and  they  too  soon  taught  our  people  to  join  them 
in  assailing  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.*  It  was  contrary 
to  the  policy  of  some  of  the  leading  statesmen  to  permit 
the  reformation  to  be  conducted  quietly  and  peaceably. 
It  was  by  the  quarrels  of  churchmen  that  they  hoped  to 
obtain  possession  of  the  property  of  the  Church,  and,  in  a 
desire  to  have  a  scramble,  the  lower  orders  united  with 
them.  Hence,  in  1552,  the  Prayer  Book  was  revised,  Revision 
and  a  new  Act  of  Uniformity  was  passed.  Prayer 

A  rapid  sketch  has  thus  been  given  of  the  reforms  J^." 
which  took  place  during  the  short  reign  of  Edward  VI., 
because  in  all  of  them  Parker  acquiesced ;  and  though 
he  preferred  the  first  Prayer  Book  to  the  second,  with  the 
second,  with  some  slight  alterations,  he  was  quite  ready 
•  See  Vol.  VII.  p.  25. 


inactivity. 


88  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,  to  concur.  We  cannot  advert  to  the  fact  without 
— r-^— '  pressing  our  surprise,  that,  in  these  stirring  times,  Parker 
Parker*  took  no  part  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs.  Although 
1559-75.  taking  an  active  part  in  what  related  to  his  college  and 
Parkers  university,  and  although  he  was  consulted  very  frequently 
by  his  superiors,  he  lived  in  comparative  retirement.  It 
was  not  from  want  of  solicitation  on  the  part  of  those 
engaged  in  state  affairs,  who  were  aware  of  his  sagacity, 
learning,  and  discretion.  Within  a  short  time  after  the 
king's  accession,  Parker  was  summoned  by  the  Council  to 
preach  at  Paul's  Cross.  He  evidently  did  this  willingly ; 
but  when  the  archbishop  sounded  him,  to  know  whether, 
if  invited  to  preach  before  the  king,  he  would  be  willing 
to  attend,  to  the  primate's  letter  he  returned  no  answer. 
He  thought  that  it  was  only  a  compliment,  and  that  he 
might  treat  it  as  such ;  and  it  was  not  till  a  command 
from  the  king  himself,  through  the  Bishop  of  Westminster, 
Dr.  Thirlby,  was  addressed  to  him,  that  he  preached  at 
court ;  the  result  of  which  was,  as  he  expected  and  feared, 
that  he  was  made  one  of  the  royal  chaplains.  By  Bishop 
Eidley  he  was  earnestly  entreated  to  preach  at  Paul's 
Cross.  The  bishop  informed  him  of  the  difficulty  he 
experienced  in  finding  suitable  preachers.  "I  may  have," 
he  said,  "  if  I  would  call  without  any  choice  [preachers] 
enow ;  but  in  some,  alas !  I  desire  more  learning,  in  some 
a  better  judgement,  in  some  more  virtue  and  godly  con- 
versation, in  some  more  soberness  and  discretion.  And 
he  in  whom  all  these  do  concur  shall  not  do  well  to  refuse 
(in  my  judgement)  to  serve  God  in  that  place."  He 
would  not  bring  the  Council  to  command  the  service, 
but  he  would  rather  proffer  a  request.*  Notwithstanding 
this  appeal,  Parker  shrank  from  the  duty,  and  earnestly 
desired  to  be  excused.     It  was  part  of  his  nature  in  all 

*  Corresp.  p.  45. 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  89 

things  to  do  his  best,  and,  without  vanity,  he  might  fairly     chap. 
suppose  that,  if  he  did  his  best,  he  would  be  again  em-    — ^L- * 
ployed,  and  brought  into  that  public  life  which  he  desired    ^arkerT 
to  avoid.     However  strong  was  his  desire  for  retirement,    1559-75. 
his  merits  were  so  well  known,  that,  on  the  13th  of  De- 
cember, he  received  a  document,  signed  by  the  leading 
members  of  the  Privy  Council,  in  which  it   is  stated  : 
"Whereas  the  king's  majesty  hath  willed  us  to  send  for 
you,  to  confer  with  you  and  take  your  opinion  in  certain 
things  touching  his  highness'  service :  these  are  to  pray 
you,  upon  the  sight  hereof,  to  put  yourself  in  a  readiness 
to  make  your  repair  hither  unto  us  as  soon  as  ye  con- 
veniently may  for  the  purpose  aforesaid. "  * 

For  what  purpose  the  Council  desired  Dr.  Parker's 
opinion  is  not  apparent ;  but  there  is  another  letter 
extant,  written  by  Bishop  Latimer,  in  which  he  re- 
monstrates with  Dr.  Parker  for  refusing  to  take  an  active 
part  in  things  pertaining  to  Church  and  State.  What 
were  Parker's  real  reasons,  if  any,  beyond  the  apparent 
ones,  existing  in  his  mind,  it  is  useless  to  conjecture.  He 
was  unmoved  by  these  flattering  solicitations,  and  re- 
mained at  Cambridge,  paying  visits  occasionally  to  Lin- 
coln and  to  Norwich.  He  did  not  shrink  from  con- 
troversy when  it  was  forced  upon  him,  though  he  never 
sought  it. 

When  Bishop  Eidley  and  others  came  to  Cambridge, 
and  held  a  discussion  on  the  subject  of  transubstantiation, 
Parker  felt  it  his  duty,  as  a  leading  member  of  the  univer- 
sity, to  take  part  in  the  discussion.  The  fact  is,  that  al- 
though he  was  a  reformer,  he  was  not  by  any  means  an 
enthusiastic  Protestant ;  and,  though  he  was  not  opposed  to 
the  government  of  Edward,  he  was  by  no  means  inclined 
to  support  a  ministry  which  had  robbed  him  of  his  pro- 
*  Corresp.  p.  46. 


90  LIVES   OF  Tin: 

chap,     perty.      For  this  surmise  we  have  some    authority,  for 
> — ,— -  Parker  wrote  and  published  a  powerful  tract,  which  is 

JVIatlhcw  . 

Parker,  be  found  in  Strype's  Collectanea,  and  is  described  by  him 
1  oo9-75.  as  "  a  learned  discourse  of  Dr.  Parker  against  the  alienation 
of  the  revenues  of  the  Church."  He  mentions  that,  to  the 
avarice  of  the  great  nobles,  Martin  Bucer  was  accustomed 
to  trace  the  calamities  to  which  Germany  was  at  this 
time  exposed,  and  by  which  that  country,  guilty  of  what 
he  called  the  sacrilegium  et  diminutionem  patrimonii  cru- 
cijixi,  had  called  down  the  divine  wrath.  One  thing  is 
certain,  that  among  the  insurgents  in  Norfolk  under  Kett, 
Parker  was  at  first  decidedly  popular. 

It  is  further  to  be  remarked,  that  through  his  preaching, 
and  the  preaching  of  his  associates  of  Stoke  College,  this 
was  the  only  place  in  which  the  Eeformation  was  received 
by  the  common  people  without  opposition,  and,  we  may 
even  say,  with  some  measure  of  favour.  The  arbitrary 
acts  of  the  government,  which,  under  the  pretext  of  re- 
formation, set  law  and  the  rights  of  property  at  defiance, 
brought  the  Eeformation  itself  into  peril  so  early  as  the 
year  1549,  and  thus  unintentionally  prepared  the  way  for 
the  terrible  reaction  of  the  following  reign.  The  opposition 
to  the  Eeformation  was,  at  first,  nearly  confined  to  the 
Eegulars,  who  had  been  turned  out  of  church  and  home  ; 
but  when  the  Seculars  became  alarmed,  under  the  notion 
that  what  was  done  with  respect  to  the  monasteries  was 
only  paving  the  way  to  an  attack  upon  all  ecclesiastical 
property,  the  zeal  began  to  slumber,  which,  alarmed  under 
Mary,  was  only  kindled  into  enthusiasm  in  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth.  But,  admitting  this,  there  were  other  circum- 
stances over  which  the  government  could  exercise  no 
control,  but  which  caused  a  strong  feeling  of  discontent. 
Feudal  Superficial  readers  and  writers  are  so  accustomed  to 

ej-Btem.       Qwe}}   Up0n   the  faults  of  the   feudal  system,  and   the 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  91 

miseries  which  attended  its  decadence,  that  they  forget    chap. 
that  no  system  whatever  could  for  a  long  time  prevail,         L  ... 
unless   it   possessed   some   counterbalancing  advantages.     p^T 
There   was,   under  the  feudal  system,   a  reciprocity  of    1559-75. 
benefits :  service  rendered  was  repaid  by  protection ;  rights 
were  claimed  and  admitted  on  both  sides,  and  an  appeal 
was  made,  not  merely  to  what  was  sordid  and  base  in 
human  nature,  but  also  to  the  affections  on  either  side. 
Self-love,  if  not  selfishness,  conduced  to  this,  when  the 
power  of  the  landed  proprietor  depended  mainly  on  the 
forces  he  could  bring  into  the  field  in  time  of  war ;  when 
the  nobleman  was  applauded  by  the    sovereign  for  the 
gallant  appearance  of  his  well-appointed  retainers  ;  when 
the  sons  of  the  labourers,  if  really  little  better  than  serfs  of 
the  soil,  were  well  fed  and  well  cared  for  ;  when,  in  time 
of  peace,  old  and  young  felt  that  they  possessed  certain 
rights  in  the  soil,  for  which  they  were  ready  to  fight; 
when,  in  the  field  sports,  master  and  man  met  together 
on  an   equality;  when,  on   festive   occasions,  the  inha- 
bitants of  the  cottages  felt  that  they  had  a  position  in 
the  lordly  castle,  even  when  visited  by  royalty ;  goodwill 
was  found  generally  to  prevail ;  and  the  landed  proprietor, 
who  disregarded  the  welfare  of  the  people,  was  accounted 
as  a  man  not  only  hard  of  heart,  but  neglectful  of  his  own 
interest.     Fully  admitting  that  as  the  system  was  dying 
out,  the  abuses  became  more  oppressive  and  apparent,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that,  under  such  a   system,  much   of 
physical  happiness  prevailed.     Admitting,  also,  that  the 
system  by  which  it  has  been  superseded,  is  more  con- 
ducive to  the  national  welfare,  by  rendering  each  man 
more  independent,  we  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact 
that,  in  the  transition  from  one  system  to  another,  there 
could  not  fail  to  be  grounds  of  discontent.    These  grounds 
of  discontent  were,  in  some  measure,  substantial ;  but  the 


92  LIVES   OP   TIIK 

chap,     discontent  became  more  alarming,  when  the  appeal  wj 
— J-l^  made  also  to  the  imagination,  and  the  demagogue  coulc 

Parker*    suggest  that  an  attempt  was  made  to  rob  the  poor  of  their 

1559-75.   rights. 

A  great  middle  class  had  risen  in  the  country ;  thai 
middle  class  which  is  the  strength  and  pride  of  England, 
which  has  limited  the  power  of  the  crown,  and  controlle( 
the  pretensions  of  the  aristocracy,  into  which  all  classes 
can  obtain  admission.  It  was  a  revolution,  silent  and 
progressive,  as  revolutions  in  England  have  generally  been, 
but  not  free  from  that  attendant  suffering  from  which  no 
revolution  can  be  entirely  exempt.  The  first  step  was 
taken  when  land  was  brought  into  the  market.  The 
moneyed  men  in  the  cities  became  large  purchasers.  The 
landed  aristocracy  has  always  in  England  taken  pre- 
cedence of  the  commercial  aristocracy ;  and  the  merchant 
princes  desire  the  estates  of  the  ancient  nobility,  without^ 
in  the  first  instance,  recognizing  the  responsibility  of 
property,  in  the  recognition  of  which  the  safety  of  England 
at  this  time  mainly  depends.  The  nobleman,  when  he 
had  squandered  the  price  of  his  land  in  the  dissipations 
of  the  court  and  the  metropolis,  viewed  with  no  friendly 
feeling  the  stranger  revelling  in  those  ancestral  halls,  from 
which,  through  his  vices,  he  had  become  self-expatriated. 
Throughout  the  disturbances  of  this  period,  complaint 
was  frequently  made  by  the  government,  that,  from  the 
ranks  of  the  aristocracy,  insurgents  were  sure  to  find 
leaders,  whom,  from  old  associations,  they  delighted  to 
follow  and  to  serve.  The  commons  themselves  felt 
bitterly  the  change  of  masters.  In  place  of  the  old  here- 
ditary chief,  they  found  a  landlord  in  their  parish,  who, 
instead  of  identifying  his  interests  with  those  of  his  tenants 
and  neighbours,  thought  only  of  obtaining  the  maximui 
of  work  for  the  minimum  of  pay.     They  purchased 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  93 

land  as  an  investment  of  their  money,  and,  having  made     chap. 
a  bargain,  they  felt  it  due  to  themselves    to  make  the 


best  of  it.     The  new  proprietors  were  distinguished  from     pLkeT 
the  old  barons  by  the  title  of  gentlemen,  and  "  Down  with    1559-75. 
the  gentlemen ! "  was  the  cry  from  one  end  of  England  Disturb- 
to  the  other.     Many  of  them  became  purchasers  of  the  1549. 
abbey  lands  and  of  church  property,  and  let  them  at  rack 
rents.     Hundreds  of  farmers   with   their   families  were 
driven  from  holdings,  the  tenure  of  which  their  ancestors, 
though  paying  a  rent,  had  regarded  as  indisputably  secure. 
Many  held  estates  by  easy  leases,  in  the  shape  of  fines,  to 
be  paid  to  the  church  or  monasteries,  perfectly  certain 
that,  when  times  were  hard,  there  would  be  a  mitigation 
in  their  payment.     The  families  of  franklins  had  most  of 
them  certain  rights  in  the  monasteries  themselves.     Here, 
if  their  children  were  ambitious  to  become  ministers  of 
state  or  learned  divines,  they  could  claim,  on  the  ground 
of  some  half-forgotten  benefaction,  a  gratuitous   educa- 
tion.    Here,  for   the  aged  and  infirm,  corrodies  might 
be  demanded  or  easily  procured  from  the  charity  of  the 
lords,  who,  in  founding  a  monastery,  had  reserved  therein 
certain  rights  for  their  family  and  their  tenants.     Here 
the  sick  would  find  the  best  advice,  and  a  labourer  might 
live  to  see  a  son  of  his  house  riding  before  him  in  prelatic 
pomp.     The  reformers  could  tell  how  these  advantages, 
for  such  at  one  time  they  were,  had  been  perverted  and 
abused ;  they  could  dwell  on  the  iniquities  permitted  to 
exist  unrebuked  in  some  monasteries ;  they  could  point 
out  how  funds,  provided  for  the  studious  and  ascetic,  had 
tendered  to  the  fostering  of  luxury,  carnality,  and  pride ; 
but  still,  in  all  cases  except  the  very  worst,  the  people 
could  look  back  with  pleasure  to  what  had  been,  and 
demand  with  indignation,  What  have  you   given   us  in 
return?     Of  the  farmer  and  the  poor  there  was  now  no 


94  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,  thought.  The  gentlemen  who  had  bought  the  land  found 
— r^— -  it  profitable  to  become  graziers,  whose  interest  it  was  to 
Parker,  diminish  the  number  of  able-bodied  men  on  their  several 
1 559-75.  estates.  Those  wide-spread  commons,  which,  from  the 
earliest  English  times,  long  before  the  Conquest,  had  been 
regarded  as  the  poor  man's  estate,  were  now  inclosed ; 
and,  by  that  inclosure,  the  poor  man  regarded  himself  as 
robbed  of  his  rights.  A  robbery  and  a  wrong  it  was, 
more  infamous  than  that  of  the  monasteries.  But  it  was 
a  mere  question  of  might  against  right,  without  an  attempt 
to  show  that  the  lower  orders  were  more  depraved  than 
the  sybarites  of  the  court,  who,  in  becoming  courtiers, 
had  ceased  to  be  princes  of  the  land.  They  became 
minions  of  the  prince,  instead  of  fathers  of  the  people ; 
and  who  shall  blame  an  oppressed  people,  when  they 
took  up  arms  to  assert  their  rights,  we  might  almost ;,say, 
to  defend  their  lives  ? 

To  the  discontented  agriculturists  the  ousted  monks 
were  soon  found  to  attach  themselves.  Thousands  of  these 
there  were,  who,  at  one  time  enjoying  a  competence,  if 
not  living  in  luxury,  were  now  reduced  to  penury  and 
wrant,  complaining  loudly  that  the  pensions  promised  to 
them  were  irregularly  paid,  even  if  paid  at  all.  To 
these  were  added  the  usual  number  of  vagabonds  who, 
having  nothing  to  lose,  are  always  ready  for  a  scramble. 
The  Anabaptists,  the  successors  of  the  Lollards,  were  still 
propagating  what  we  should  now  call  Socialistic  prin- 
ciples ;  and  these,  together  with  discharged  soldiers,  who 
claimed  as  a  debt  due  to  them  the  wages  which  the 
government  was  unable,  if  not  unwilling,  to  pay,  were 
always  ready  to  swell  a  mob.  All  these  classes  were  in- 
dignant, and,  in  their  indignation,  the  mass  of  the  people 
sympathized,  when  they  found  that  Somerset  had  engaged 
foreign  troops  against  the  subjects  of  the  King  of  England. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  95 

rorkshire  was  again  prepared  for  a  rising ;  Northampton-     chap. 
shire  and  the  midland  counties  were  in   a  state  of  in-  » — r— - 
subordination.    But  the  government  was  most  alarmed  at     Parker. 
the  state  of  affairs  in  Cornwall  and  Devonshire :    there,    1559-75. 
20,000  strong,  the  insurgents  for  a  long  time  held  out 
against  the  most  experienced  generals  of  the  royal  army. 
The  failure  of  the  insurrection  is  to  be  attributed,  as  is 
so  frequently  the  case,  to  the  absence  of  some  clear  defi- 
nite object  to  be  attained.     If  the  insurgents  had  deter- 
mined to  depose  the  youth  upon  the  throne  as  too  young 
to  reign,  causing  him  to  be  superseded  by  his  sister,  or 
if  any  clearly  denned  object  had  been  put  before  them, 
the  probability  is  that  a  revolution  would  have  been 
accomplished.     The  insurrection  in  Cornwall  and  Devon 
had  become  formidable,  because  there  was  an  approxima- 
tion to  this  great  principle.    Through  the  influence  of  the 
monks,  the  watchword  was,  "Down  with  the  Beforma- 
tion!"     If  the  attempt  had  been  to  establish  a  new  sect 
instead   of  reforming  the  old  Church,   the  insurrection 
might  not  have  been  unsuccessful.     The  answer  made  to 
the  demands  of  the  insurgents  was,  that  abuses  only  had 
been  removed,  and  that  the  Church  remained  in  its  cor- 
porate capacity,  as  it  had  been  from  the  beginning.     The 
consequence  was,  that  the  insurgents  were  compelled  to 
state  their  grievances  in  detail ;  and,  even  when  it  was 
admitted  that,  on  some  points,  a  grievance  might  be  esta- 
blished, it  did  not  follow  that  the  Eeformation  in  toto  was 
to  be  condemned.     It  was  the  more  easy  to  put  down 
the  insurrections,  to  which  reference  has  now  been  made, 
because,  in  the  counsels  of  those  insurgents,  the  monastic 
element  prevailed.    The  majority  of  those  then  under  arms 
were  willing  to  give  a  religious  colouring  to  the  move- 
ment ;  but  cared  little  for  the  enforcement  of  the  demand. 
Their  object  was  apparently  definite,  but  it  was  so  far 


surreetion. 


90  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,  from  being  really  such,  that  they  easily  yielded  to  the 
— ,  '—  cajolery  of  the  government. 
Parker.  I  nave  dwelt  upon  this  topic  in  order  to  account  in 
1559-75.  some  measure  for  the  different  result  of  the  rising  in 
Norfolk.  Among  the  followers  of  Kett  there  was  no 
Kett's  in-  absence  of  religious  sentiment  or  principle ;  but  religion 
was  not  then  used  as  the  watchword  of  faction.  Although 
they  were  not  the  partizans  of  Protestantism,  they  had 
generally  acquiesced  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Eefor- 
mation.  Although  the  insurrectionary  movements  were 
simultaneous  in  the  different  parts  of  the  country,  the 
insurgents  did  not  act  in  concert,  and  Norfolk  and  Suffolk 
had.  little  sympathy  with  the  shires.  The  object  of  Kett 
and  his  followers  was  patriotic.  They  desired  to  uphold 
the  rights  of  the  lower  orders,  and  to  prevent  the  gentle- 
men, who  had  purchased  the  county  estates,  from  becom- 
ing despotic.  The  citizens  of  Norwich  made  no  secret  of 
their  sympathy  with  the  insurgents,  so  far  as  a  hatred  of 
the  new  "  gentlemen  "  was  concerned ;  and  many  of  the 
landed  proprietors,  better  known  from  the  antiquity  of 
their  families  than  from  the  number  of  their  acres,  were 
prepared  to  deal  very  gently  with  the  outraged  poor. 
Among  the  followers  of  Kett,  few,  if  any,  of  the  regular 
clergy  were  to  be  found,  and  the  Anabaptists  were  scarcely 
known.  The  tradesmen  of  Norwich,  as  may  be  instanced 
in  the  Parker  family,  were  content,  after  having  realized 
a  competence,  to  pass  the  remainder  of  their  days  in  the 
society  of  their  old  friends,  and  in  the  discharge  of  muni- 
cipal functions.  They  were  contemned  by  the  wealthier 
traders,  who,  coming  from  a  distance,  had  purchased  the 
old  estates  of  the  county  families  without  sharing  in 
that  county  feeling  which,  in  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  was 
especially  strong.  They  shared  the  indignant  feelings  of 
the  people  when  the  latter  were  robbed  of  their  rights,  or 


i 

I 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  97 

they  believed  to  be  such  ;  when  the  commons  were     chap. 
•  .  VJI 

inclosed ;  when  the  public  pastures  were  converted  into  « — ^— - 

private  closes  ;  when  the  forests  were  turned  into  fields  ;  Parked 
when  the  day-labourer  was  turned  from  his  home,  and  1559-75. 
had  to  seek  wages  elsewhere ;  when  the  arable  land,  on 
which  many  had  laboured,  was  turned  into  the  solitary 
sheep-walk.  "  Down  with  the  hedges !  Fill  the  ditches ! 
Level  the  enclosures !  "  This  was  the  general  cry.  Here 
something  definite  was  proposed  :  the  people  were  ready 
to  act ;  the  neutrals  looked  on,  and,  though  urged  by  the 
government,  were  not  prepared  for  energetic  measures. 

At  a  great  annual  festival — a  "  play,"  as  it  is  called  by 
Holinshed  and  Hay  ward — held  on  the  6  th  of  July,  at 
Wymondham,  about  six  miles  from  Norwich,  the  wTar- 
cries  just  described  were  distinctly  heard.  A  mob  had 
assembled.  At  the  head  appeared  Eobert  Kett,  or 
Knight,*  a  man  of  importance  in  the  neighbourhood,  a 
tanner  by  trade.  He  was  a  man  of  superior  intelligence 
and  firmness,  one  of  those  who  are  born  to  command. 
The  assemblage  was  addressed  by  him  ;  the  mob  was 
organized  and  drilled,  and  soon  assumed  the  appearance 
of  an  army,  such  as  armies  then  were.  The  people  were 
irregularly  armed,  each  having  seized  the  weapons  which 
came  to  hand  from  gentlemen's  houses  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. Their  arms,  sometimes  taken  from  foes,  and 
sometimes  borrowed  from  friends,  consisted  of  swords, 
lances,  bows,  arrows,  and  even  guns.  Although  defiant 
of  the  laws  of  the  land,  they  could  not  be  regarded  as 
altogether  lawless,  for  a  code  of  laws  was  extemporized 
by  Kett,  and  resolutely  enforced.  Life  was  secure  ;  and, 
although  depredation  was  needful  for  the  support  of  so 

*  The  family  of  Kett  is  of  great  antiquity  in  Norfolk  :  the  name  was 
originally  spelt  Cat,  Chat,  Kett,  or  Knight.  See  Gurney's  "  Record  of 
of  the  House  of  Gournay." 

VOL.  IX.  II 


UVBS  OF  Till: 


CHAP,     large  a  multitude,  yet  private  theft  was  severely  punished. 

L-    Robert  KVtt   Boon  found  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army 

,:;:v    of  10,000  men,  if  reliance  may  be  placed  on  the  figure 

1659-7.).    given  by  the  chroniclers.     Huts  were  erected.     A  camp 

was  regularly  formed.     A  commissariat  was  established  ; 

ami  with  sheep,  cows,  and  poultry  the  market  was  stored 

Luxuries  even  were  not  wanting,  for  mention  is  made  o 

-wans  ;  and  swans,  we  may  presume,  were  no  ordinary 

article  of  food;  unless,  as  is  probable,  the  swans  were 

in  point  of  fact,  only  geese  under  another  name.     In  th 

middle  of  a  common  called  Mousehold   Hill   stood   a) 

oak ;  it  was  called  by  the  people  the  Oak  of  Eeformation 

Here  Eobert  Kett  administered  justice,  and  he  was  th 

more  particular  in  treating  with  impartiality  and  strict 

ness  all  who  were  summoned  to  his  presence,  because  o 

the  importance  of  keeping  on  good  terms  with  the  in 

habitants  of  Norwich.     The  good  citizens,  at  the  risk  o 

giving  offence  to  the  government,  permitted  free  ingres 

and   egress  to  and  from  their  town  to  all  parties.     Th 

mayor  of  Norwich  and  some  of  the  leading  magistrate 

were  invited  to  attend — and  did  attend — to  see  justic 

done,  when  a  trial  of  more  than  ordinary  importance  too 

place  at  the  Oak  of  Eeformation.      In  a  proclamatio 

issued  by  Kett,  that  remarkable  man  declared,  that  th 

people  under  his  command  were  neither  insurgents  no 

rebels  ;   they  were  the  king's  loyal  subjects  and  deputie 

Oppressed  by  the  self-constituted  "  gentlemen,"  they  wer 

in  arms,  not  against  the  king,  but  to  protect  themselve 

from  robbery  and  wrong.     The  people,  he  complainec 

were  now  compelled,  like  beasts  of  burden,  to  live  o 

onions  and  peas,  while  whole  rivers  of  wealth  flowed  in 

the  coffers  of  the  landlord.     The  wealthy  and  the  money 

men   had    obtained  such  power  in  the  state   that  the 

ceased  to  bear  their  fair  proportion  of  the  public  burden 


AECHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  99 

while  the  poor  were  gnawed  to  the  very  bones.  More  of  chap. 
these  commonplaces — to  which  we  marvel  that  a  man  -  vn' 
ofKett's  power  could  condescend — were  uttered  on  the  pS? 
occasion,  the  real  oppression  and  wrong  being  in  such  1559-75 
cases  too  often  lost  sight  of  in  the  manifest  exaggeration 
of  the  orator.  At  this  proclamation,  however,  I  merely 
glance,  to  show  the  contrast  which  it  exhibits  when  com- 
pared with  similar  documents  proceeding  from  the 
"  shires."  There  was  no  pretext  of  religion  ;  the  insur- 
gents of  Norfolk  contented  themselves  with  the  statement 
of  real,  not  imaginary,  grievances ;  and  yet  to  the  offices 
of  religion  more  attention  was  paid  in  the  camp  of 
Eobert  Kett  than  has  been  sometimes  found  in  better 
disciplined  armies.  Chaplains  of  the  Eeformed  Church  of 
England  were  regularly  appointed ;  and  by  a  chaplain- 
general,  the  Eev.  Dr.  Conyers,  vicar  of  St.  Martin's, 
Norwich,  church  discipline  was  maintained.  The  Oak  of 
Eeformation,  with  outspread  branches,  served  for  the 
cathedral  as  well  as  for  the  hall  of  justice  to  "  the  king's 
loyal  subjects  and  deputies."  Here  every  morning  and 
evening  matins  and  evensong  were  duly  sung  or  said, 
according  to  the  reformed  ritual  as  presented  in  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer.  A  special  prayer  was  offered 
by  Kett's  direction,  for  the  prosperous  speed  of  their 
enterprise. 

Dr.  Parker  was  at  this  time  staying  with  his  friends  at 
Norwich.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in  what  was  passing 
before  his  eyes ;  and  his  conduct  on  the  occasion  was 
characteristic,  exhibiting  his  moral  courage,  which  was 
often  rendered  unavailable  by  the  timidity  of  his  cha- 
racter. Daily  service  was  performed  in  the  churches  of 
Norwich,  and  was  attended  by  many  from  the  camp  of 
the  insurgents.  Dr.  Parker  was  often  seen  in  the  pulpits 
of  the   city  churches,  warning  the   citizens,  who  many 


h2 


100  LIVES   OF   THE 

OHAP.  of  them  sympathized  with  the  insurgents,  against 
_VIYL  ...  consequences  of  a  breach  of  the  peace.  On  one  occasion, 
Jtato  attended  by  his  brother  Thomas  and  other  friends,  he 
1659-75.  determined  to  proceed  to  Kett's  camp,  where,  while  not 
denying  their  grievances,  he  might  exhort  them  to  submit 
their  complaints  to  the  proper  legal  authorities.  On 
arriving  at  the  Oak  of  Eeformation,  he  found  Kett  and 
his  counsellors  in  communication  with  Thomas  Codcl, 
mayor  of  Norwich,  a  man  who  was  justly  respected  for 
his  courage,  firmness,  and  discretion.  Kett  had  pressed 
him  to  resign  his  office  of  mayor,  and  to  place  the  keys 
of  the  city  in  Kett's  own  hands.  Codd  boldly  replied, 
that  he  would  die  first.  The  people  around  were  in 
great  excitement,  clamouring  for  the  mayor's  resigna- 
tion. The  weather  was  exceedingly  hot,  and  many  of 
the  people  were  under  the  influence  of  drink.  Parker, 
therefore,  thought  it  useless  to  address  them,  and  he  re- 
turned to  the  city.  In  the  watches  of  the  night,  being 
conscience-stricken,  he  determined  to  return  to  the  post 
of  duty;  and  in  the  morning,  accompanied  by  his  brother, 
he  revisited  the  camp.  Very  different  was  now  the  state 
of  affairs.  The  people  were  on  their  knees  around  the 
oak,  responding  to  the  English  Litany,  which  their  chap- 
lain, Thomas  Conyers,  was  saying  or  singing.  The  Litany 
finished,  Dr.  Parker  went  up  to  that  part  of  the  oak  which 
served  for  a  pulpit  or  a  rostrum.  Immediately  there 
was  silence  throughout  the  multitude,  and  he  commenced 
his  sermon.  Alluding  indirectly  to  the  excesses  he  had 
witnessed  on  the  preceding  day,  he  exhorted  them  to 
temperance  and  sobriety,  and  entreated  them  to  regard 
as  God's  gift,  the .  provisions  with  which  the  camp  was 
stored.  He  implored  them  to  live  at  peace  one  with 
another  ;  in  dealing  with  their  enemies,  to  guard  against 
the   indulgence  of  any  angry  and  revengeful  passions 


ivyixu   , 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 


101 


and,  with  respect  to  their  prisoners,  neither  to  load 
them  with  chains,  nor  to  shed  their  blood.  He  called 
upon  them,  from  regard  to  the  common  good,  to  desist 
from  their  present  purpose.  He  urged  them  to  place 
confidence  in  any  heralds  or  messengers  who  might  be 
sent  to  them  by  the  king  ;  and  to  give  to  the  king,  young 
as  he  was,  the  honour  due  to  the  royal  office  ;  then  they 
might  expect  that,  when  he  came  to  riper  years,  inherit- 
ing the  valour  and  prowess  of  his  ancestors,  he  would 
restore  their  rights  and  defend  their  liberties. 

The  preacher  was  heard  with  much  attention,  for  he 
expressed  himself  with  earnestness  ;  and  the  doctor  was 
described  as  "a  most  charming  preacher."  The  error 
committed  was,  that  there  was  no  definite  proposition  sub- 
mitted to  the  meeting  ;  instead  of  a  discussion,  therefore, 
a  pause  ensued,  of  which  those  who  preferred  lawlessness 
with  plenty,  to  work  and  law,  availed  themselves.  A 
voice  at  the  outskirts  was  heard,  "  How  long  shall  we 
bear  with  this  hireling  doctor  ?  He  is  hired  by  the  gentry, 
and  he  comes  among  us  with  words  for  which  they  have 
paid  him;  they  have  bribed  his  tongue.  For  all  his 
prating,  we  will  bridle  their  intolerable  power ;  we  will 
hold  them  bound,  spite  of  their  hearts,  by  the  cords  of  our 
law."  The  demagogue  succeeded  to  a  certain  extent,  for 
a  tumult  ensued.  Harsh  and  threatening  words  were 
uttered,  until  at  last  they  reached  Parker's  own  ears. 
Some  of  them  are  said  to  have  cried  out  fiercely,  "  Since 
he  has  spoken  so  finely,  and  sprinkled  his  speech  with 
such  bitter  words  and  sentences,  the  best  thing  to  do 
would  be  to  pierce  him  with  pikes  and  arrows,  and  so 
make  him  come  down."  Parker  was  considerably  alarmed ; 
he  thought  the  angry  multitude  intended  to  kill  him  on 
the  spot.  He  said  that  he  felt  their  spears'  points  under 
his  feet.    For  these  apprehensions,  however,  there  was  very 


CHAP. 
VII. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


102  LIVES  of  tin: 

chap,     little  occasion,  for  he  afterwards  discovered  that  by  nearly 


all  the  persons  under  the  oak  he  was  highly  respected 
Parked  and  esteemed,  and  they  were  glad  that  he  had  ventured 
1559-75.  into  the  camp.  They  had  hoped  that,  influenced  by  his 
words,  the  people  would  have  conducted  themselves  with 
greater  decorum  ;  and  that  for  their  prisoners  they  would 
have  shown  more  consideration.  A  wiser  man  on  this 
occasion  was  their  chaplain,  Thomas  Conyers.  Disregard- 
ing the  tumult,  he  directed  the  choristers,  who  had  come 
with  him  from  his  church  of  St.  Martin's  in  the  city,  to 
sing  the  Te  Deuni  in  English.  The  people  were  charmed 
by  the  music.  Many  of  them  joined  in  the  chorus,  and 
the  disturbance  was  by  degrees  appeased.  Parker  availed 
himself  of  the  interval,  descended  from  the  tree,  and,  with 
his  brother,  departed  from  the  camp.  They  were  pur- 
sued by  some  of  the  discontented  insurgents,  and  were 
overtaken  by  them  before  they  reached  the  Pockthorpe 
gate.  Thinking  to  convict  Parker  of  an  illegal  act,  they 
began  to  question  him  about  his  licence  as  a  preacher. 
Parker  having  managed  to  make  his  escape,  left  his  brother 
behind  him  to  show  that,  both  from  the  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical authorities,  he  held  a  licence. 

Parker  again  took  courage,  and  the  next  day  appeared 
in  St.  Clement's  church.  In  the  church  he  was  aware 
that  many  of  the  insurgents  had  assembled  with  their 
abettors  in  the  city ;  and  he  took  occasion,  from  one  of 
the  lessons,  to  censure  the  tumult  of  which  he  had  lately 
been  a  witness.  No  disturbance  ensued.  The  congre- 
gation dispersed  ;  but  certain  of  the  insurgents  waiting  at 
the  door,  followed  him  to  his  house.  Here  they  de- 
clared that  they  knew  him  to  be  in  possession  of  three  or 
four  good  horses — the  mode  of  travelling  at  that  time 
being  on  horseback — and  they  desired  him  to  have  them 
ready,  since  they  were   determined,   immediately   after 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  103 

linner,  to  seize  them  for  the  service  of  the  king,  and  to     chap. 
irry  them  to  the  camp.     Parker  received  the  demand  - — ^— > 
in  silence ;  but  he  secretly  sent  for  a  farrier,  and  to  him     parkerT 
he  gave  directions  that,  from  certain  of  the  horses,  the    1559-75. 
shoes  should  be  taken  off,  that  their  hoofs  should  be  pared 
to  the  quick,  and  that  all  should  be  rubbed  with  nerve- 
oil,  to  give  the  appearance  of  their  having  been  lamed  by 
too  much  travel  and  work.     The  insurgents  being  de- 
ceived, did  not  molest  the  grooms  as  they  led  the  horses 
to  pasture  ;  and  Parker  soon  after  left  the  city  for  the 
purpose   apparently  of  taking   a  walk.     At  Cringleford 
Bridge,   about   two   miles   from   Norwich,   he   met   his 
horses,  mounted,  and  rode  to  Cambridge.* 

Parker's  conduct  on  this  occasion  made  such  an  im- 
pression upon  the  minds  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
government,  as  to  cause  them  to  make  another  proposal 
to  him,  that  he  should  engage  in  public  affairs ;  but  he 
still  refused  to  go  to  the  metropolis.  He  declared  himself 
to  be  not  a  man  of  action,  and  that  he  desired  to  remain 
at  Cambridge. 

Of  Parker's  life  at  Cambridge  we  have  already  spoken. 
He  stayed  there  long  enough  to  form  friendships  with 
men  such  as  Cecil  and  Bacon,  Smith  and  Cheke,  together 
with  others  who,  his  juniors  in  age,  may  have  resorted 
to  him  at  first  as  a  tutor,  but  were  afterwards  admitted 
to  his  intimacy. 

What  were  the  circumstances  of  Parker's  life  during  Reign  of 
the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  is  a  question  which  can  only  be  1553L58. 
answered  by  a  reference  to  the  historical  facts  and  docu- 
ments within  our  reach,  or  open  to  our  inspection.     We 

*  For  an  account  of  Rett's  insurrection,  see  Bloomfield's  History  of 
Norfolk,  but  more  particularly  "  Rett's  Rebellion  in  Norfolk,"  by  the 
Rev.  Frederick  William  Russell,  M.A.  This  is  an  historical  sketch  of 
considerable  value. 


104  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,     must  dismiss  from  our  minds,  not  only  the  misstatement^  i  >(' 

VII.  .  c 

« r-:— -  Foxe  and  Burnet,  but  sometimes  even  the  conjectures  of 

Parker.  Strype.  The  Protestant  hagiologists  are  too  apt  to  draw 
1559-75.  upon  their  imaginations,  and  to  state  as  having  actually 
taken  place  what  they,  from  a  party  view  of  the  case, 
suppose  to  be  probable.  By  such  writers  we  are  informed, 
that  Parker  underwent  the  most  cruel  privations,  and  a 
persecution  which  obliged  him  to  fly  from  place  to  place. 
By  Parker's  own  account,  he  lived  during  Mary's  reign 
in  great  retirement  in  the  house  of  one  of  his  friends. 
He  led,  according  to  his  own  statement,  a  quiet  life  with- 
out any  men's  aid  or  succour.  Nevertheless  he  assures 
us  that  he  was  so  well  contented  with  his  lot,  that  in  that 
pleasant  rest  and  leisure  for  his  studies,  he  would  never, 
in  respect  of  himself,  have  desired  any  other  kind  of  life, 
the  extreme  fear  of  danger  only  excepted.  His  wife  he 
would  not  be  divorced  from,  or  put  her  away,  all  this 
evil  time,  as  he  might  have  done  had  he  desired  it,  and 
as  he  was  rigorously  required  to  do. 

Of  his  preferments,  he  was,  'of  course,  as  a  married 

clergyman,  deprived  ;  but  even  in  this  he  received  some 

consideration  from  the  authorities,  being  permitted,  on 

resigning   his  headship   of  Corpus  Christi  College,*   to 

Deprived    name  his  successor.     This  was  done  in  December,  1553. 

ferments6"  In  April,  1554,  he  tells  us  that  he  was  deprived  of  his 

Dec.  1553.  prebend  in  the  church  of  Ely  and  of  his  rectory  of  Land- 

1554/        beach  ;   but   here  again  he   was  permitted  to  nominate 

his   successor — William   Whalley,   a   canon   of  Lincoln. 

May  21,      Qn  faQ  21st  of  May,  1554,  Parker  says,  "I  was  despoiled 

of  my  deanery  of  Lincoln,  as  also,  on  the  same  day,  of 

my  prebend  of  Corringham,  to  which  Mr.  George  Pierpoint 

was  presented   by   virtue  of  an  advowson  of  the  same 

granted  unto  me  by  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  J.  Turner. 

*  Quoted  from  the  College  MS.  by  Strype,  i.  63. 


AECHBISHOPS   OP   CANTERBURY.  105 

'he  deanery  was  conferred  upon  Francis  Malet,  D.D.,  by     chap. 
>ueen  Mary.     After   this,"  says  Parker,  "  I  lived   as  a 


Matthew 


private  individual,  so  happy  before  God  in  my  conscience,  p!^k 
and  so  far  from  being  either  ashamed  or  dejected,  that  1559-75. 
the  delightful  literary  leisure  to  which"  the  providence 
of  God  called  me,  yielded  me  much  greater  and  more 
solid  enjoyments  than  my  former  busy  and  dangerous 
kind  of  life  ever  afforded  me.  What  shall  befal  me 
hereafter  I  know  not ;  but  to  God,  who  cares  for  all  men, 
and  who  will  one  day  reveal  the  secrets  of  all  hearts,  I 
commit  myself  wholly,  and  my  good  and  virtuous  wife 
with  my  two  very  dear  children.  And  I  beseech  the 
same  most  merciful  and  almighty  God  that,  for  the  time 
to  come,  we  may  so  bear  the  reproach  of  Christ  with 
unbroken  courage,  as  ever  to  remember  here  we  have 
no  abiding  city,  but  may  seek  one  to  come,  by  the  grace 
and  mercy  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  with  the 
Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost  be  all  honour  and  dominion 
for  ever  and  ever,  Amen."  This  was  written  on  the  26th 
of  October,  1554,  and  recurring  to  what  he  then  said  on  Oct.  26 

.       1554. 

the  6th  of  August,  1557,  "  I  persevere,"  he  remarks,  "in 
the  same  constancy,  supported  by  the  grace  and  goodness 
of  my  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ ;  by  whose  inspi- 
ration I  have  completed  a  metrical  version  of  the  Psalter 
into  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  I  have  written  a  Defence  of 
the  Marriage  of  Priests  against  Thomas  Martin."  In  Feb-  Feb.  1555. 
ruary,  1555,  he  remarks,  "  Hitherto  so  happy  before  God 
and  content  with  my  own  lot  have  I  lived,  as  neither  to 
envy  my  superiors  nor  despise  my  inferiors  ;  directing 
all  my  efforts  to  this  end  —  to  serve  God  in  a  pure 
conscience,  and  to  be  neither  despised  by  those  above  me, 
nor  feared  by  those  beneath  me."  Again,  on  the  14th  of 
October,  1556,  "  I  still  live  happy,  contented  with  my  lot,  Oct.  1556. 
trusting  in  the  testimony  of  my  conscience  in  the  Lord, 


10G 


LIVES    OF   THE 


CHAP 
VII 


relying  on  his  word,  waiting  for  the  redemption  of  my 


- — ._-  body,  through  Christ  my  Saviour." 


Matthew 

Parker. 

1559-75. 


English 
reformers. 


While  denouncing  the  persecutions  which  took  place  at 
one  period  of  Mary's  reign,  the  unprejudiced  reader  will 
probably  think  that  much  exaggeration  has  on  this  sub- 
ject prevailed.  During  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  many 
foreign  reformers  were  invited  to  England,  and  many 
Englishmen,  some  of  them  great  and  good  men,  were  in- 
duced to  adopt  their  principles.  The  great  objects  of  the 
foreigners  were  to  demolish  the  Church  and  to  establish 
a  Protestant  sect.  These  were  the  persons  that  Mary's 
government  could  not  tolerate  ;  but,  as  we  have  shown  in 
the  life  of  Cranmer,  the  object  of  her  government,  at 
the  commencement  of  her  reign,  was  to  induce  these 
parties  to  quit  the  country,  and  to  find  their  home  with 
the  foreign  reformers.  Here  we  discover  the  germ  of 
ultra-Protestantism,  Puritanism,  and  Dissent. 

There  were,  at  the  same  time,  in  England  a  very  dif- 
ferent class  of  reformers,  men  who  refused  to  separate 
from  the  Catholic  Church,  but  were  determined,  as  oppor- 
tunity should  offer,  to  reform  that  Church,  if  not  through- 
out the  world,  at  least  in  that  portion  of  it  in  which  they 
were  themselves  concerned.  Such  men  were  Cecil,  Bacon, 
Lord  Paget,  Eoger  Ascham,  and  many  others,  including 
Queen  Elizabeth  herself.  They  were  called  Protestants, 
simply  because  they  protested  against  the  medieval  cor- 
ruptions of  the  Church  and  the  usurpations  of  the  Pope ; 
in  other  words,  against  modern  Eomanism.  They  enter- 
tained respect  for  the  labours  of  the  foreign  reformers, 
but  evinced  no  sympathy  in  their  work.  By  Lutherans 
and  by  Calvinists,  equally,  they  were  distrusted,  some- 
times courted,  but  more  frequently  reviled. f 


Biographical  Memorandums. 


f  See  Zurich  Letters,  imssim. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  107 

These  men,  and  Matthew  Parker  was  among  them,  had     chap, 
lo  inclination  to  fly  the  country ;   and,  although  their  « — -,— * 
situation  in  England  was  precarious  and  uncomfortable,     faX&t! 
there  was  evidently  no  wish  on  the  part  of  Mary's  govern-    1559-75. 
ment  to  molest  them  so   long  as  they  kept   the  peace. 
This  must  be  evident  to  every  impartial  reader  who  is 
acquainted  with  the  literature  of  the  period.     These  men 
attended  the  services  of  the  Church  with  sufficient  regu- 
larity, although  they   were   prepared,   when   called   to 
account,  to  maintain  the  principles  of  the  Eeformation. 
It  is  impossible  to  deny  the  fact  that  Queen  Elizabeth, 
Cecil,  Bacon,  Paget,  and  most  probably  Parker,  would 
occasionally  be  present  at  the  celebration  of  mass ;  * — 
although,  as  we  find  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  papists 
received,   for  a  pecuniary  compensation,  a  dispensation 
from  the  penalties  to  which  all  were  subjected  by  law 
who  did  not  attend  the  public  service  of  the  Church :  so 
it  may  have  been  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary.     The  diffi- 
culty to  be  encountered  by  persons  in  Parker's  situation 
was  this,  that  any  informer  might  hale  any  one  of  these 

*  Of  this  number  was  also  Dr.  Wright,  Archdeacon  and  Vice- 
chancellor  of  Oxford.  Pie  was  an  English  Reformer,  not  a  foreign 
Protestant.  He  was  not  only  tolerated,  but  he  was  employed  under  Mary. 
He  was  known  to  be  a  reformer,  but  one  who  willingly  waited  to  know 
what  kind  of  reform  Pole  would  offer.  He  courageously  defended  the 
Gospellers,  and  befriended  Jewel. 

Among  the  number  of  those  English  Eeformers  who  conformed  in  the 
reign  of  Mary,  we  may  mention  an  eminent  divine,  called  the  Apostle 
of  the  North,  Bernard  Gilpin.  He  remained  in  legal  possession  of  the 
lucrative  benefice  of  Houghton  le  Spring  during  the  whole  of  Mary's 
reign,  not  without  hazard,  but  in  the  unrestrained  performance  of  his 
pastoral  duties.  He  had  a  powerful  protector  in  his  relation  and  friend 
Dr.  Tunstall,  Bishop  of  Durham  ;  but  the  bishop  was  quite  aware  that 
Gilpin  protested  against  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation  ;  and  the 
bishop  himself  freely  censured  Pope  Innocent  III.  for  dictating  a  belief 
in  it  to  be  essential  to  salvation. 


108  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,     occasional   conformists   before    the   ecclesiastical  judge. 


VII. 


When  thus  forced  upon  their  trial,  the  ecclesiastical  judge 
Parker*  might  compel  the  accused  to  criminate  himself,  by  com- 
1559-75.  manding  him  to  exhibit  a  confession  of  faith,  or  to  de- 
clare his  acceptance  of  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation. 
It  is  to  the  uncertainty  and  constant  anxiety  arising  from 
this  circumstance,  that  Parker  alludes  as  the  single  draw- 
back to  the  happiness  he  enjoyed  during  his  sequestration 
in  Mary's  reign.  Of  the  annoyances  to  which  men  were 
sometimes  subjected  by  the  petifogging  employes  of  the 
ecclesiastical  courts,  we  have  had  occasion  to  speak  before 
at  some  length.  It  was  the  first  grievance  that  gave  an 
impulse  to  the  reformation  movement  in  England.  In 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  the  powers  of  the  ecclesiastical 
court  were  curtailed  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  some  of  the 
abuses  still  remained  ;  and,  to  this  circumstance,  we  may 
probably  attribute  much  of  the  persecution  which  dis- 
graced a  portion  of  Mary's  reign.  Men  who  had  no 
interest  to  protect  them  at  court  were  accused,  provoked, 
and  having  exasperated  their  judges  by  the  manner  in 
which  they  honestly  defended  their  opinions,  were  cruelly 
condemned. 

The  more  distinguished  among  the  laymen  were  not 
only  protected,  but  were  actually  employed  by  Mary's 
government.  In  the  life  of  Pole  we  have  seen  how  the 
deputation,  sent  to  invite  him  to  England,  consisted  of 
men  who,  like  Parker,  while  regarding  themselves  as 
Catholics,  did  not  conceal  their  inclination  to  Protestantism, 
or  their  desire  to  effect  a  reform  in  the  Church.  The 
difference  in  point  of  principle  between  them  and  the 
exiles  was,  that  while  these  desired  a  reform  of  the  Church, 
the  others  meant,  by  a  reformation,  the  changes  instituted 
by  Luther,  or  Zwingle,  or  Calvin.  For  a  reform,  Pole, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  himself  prepared. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  109 

&  to  those  readers  who  are  not  well  acquainted  with     chap. 
the  literature  of  the  period,  but  depend  upon  the  asser- 


tions of  Foxe  and  Burnet,  what  has  just  been  advanced     Par£?rT 
will  appear  contradictory  to  their  preconceived  opinions,    1559-75. 
I  will  refer,  as  confirmatory  of  the  surmises  now  made 
with  respect  to  Parker's  position,  to  the  life  and  corre- 
spondence of  his  friend,  Eoger  Ascham.* 

Boger  Ascham  was  well  known  to  be  a  reformer.     He  R°gpr 

i      t     i  •  /-n  Ascham. 

had  been  appointed,  when  m  Germany,  secretary  to 
Edward  VI.  On  his  return  to  England,  on  the  death  of 
the  king,  he  was  surprised  to  find  that,  by  the  interven- 
tion of  Bishop  Gardyner  and  Lord  Paget,  he  was  per- 
mitted to  retain  his  office  at  the  court  of  Queen  Mary, 
with  a  salary  of  forty  marks.  Certain  other  perquisites 
were  conceded  to  him.  Writing  to  Thorne  from  Greenwich, 
in  1555,  he  informs  his  correspondent,  "  all  that  the  former 
kings,  Henry  and  Edward,  bestowed  upon  me,  has  been 
restored  and  doubled.  I  have  been  made  secretary  for 
the  Latin  tongue  to  the  king  and  queen  ;  and  I  would 
not  change  it,  so  help  me  Christ,  for  any  other  way  of 
life  that  could  be  offered  me.  Stephen,  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester, Lord  High  Chancellor  of  England,  has  patronized 
me  with  the  greatest  kindness  and  favour,  so  that  I  can- 
not easily  determine  whether  Paget  was  more  ready  to 

*  See  the  whole  works  of  Roger  Ascham,  now  first  collected  and 
revised,  with  a  life  of  the  author,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Giles.  I  add  the 
following  from  Dr.  Carwithen :  "  With  a  few  exceptions  their  departure 
was  voluntary;  for,  by  a  prudent  and  inoffensive  demeanour,  many  laics 
were  unmolested,  even  in  the  open  profession  of  the  reformed  faith. 
Ascham,  whose  opinions  were  not  disguised,  enjoyed,  by  the  favour  of 
Gardyner,  not  only  security,  but  an  honourable  station,  because  he  was 
contented  to  remain  in  his  own  country  without  disturbing  its  govern- 
ment ;  while  Cheke,  who  thought  to  preserve  his  conscience  by  flight, 
was  seized  in  Flanders,  compelled  to  a  recantation,  and  died  from  the 
pangs  of  remorse."     Hist,  of  the  Church  of  England,  i.  488. 


110  LIVES  OF  thi: 

chap,  recommend  me,  or  Winchester  to  protect  and  exalt  me. 
— ^ — -  There  have  not  been  wanting  some  who  have  endeavoured 
Variur.  to  hinder  the  flow  of  his  benevolence  towards  me  on 
1559-75.  account  of  my  religion  ;  but  they  have  not  succeeded. 
I  owe  much,  therefore,  to  the  kindness  of  Winchester 
(Bishop  Gardyner),*  and  I  willingly  own  it.  Not  only 
I,  but  many  others  have  felt  his  humane  consideration." 
Ascham  is  said  to  have  been  not  only  protected  by  the 
officers  of  state,  but  to  have  been  favoured  and  coun- 
tenanced by  the  queen  herself;  and,  in  fact,  remarks  his 
biographer,  he  seems  to  have  been  as  much  a  favourite  at 
court,  as  if  he  had  been  the  staunchest  of  papists.  With 
Cardinal  Pole,  Ascham  was  a  great  favourite,  and,  by  the 
cardinal,  Ascham  was  employed  to  translate  into  Latin 
a  speech  made  by  him  before  the  English  Parliament. 
Grant,  writing  at  a  time  when  the  transactions  of  Queen 
Mary's  reign  must  have  been  well  remembered,  mentions 
that  Ascham  always  made  open  profession  of  the  reformed 
religion ;  at  the  same  time,  he  admits  that  suspicions,  and 
charges  of  temporizing  and  compliance,  had  somewhat 
sullied  his  reputation.  I  lay  these  facts  before  the  reader, 
and  I  leave  it  to  him  to  reconcile  them  with  statements 
elsewhere  made. 

In  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  it  is  stated  by  Foxe,  Strype, 
and  Burnet,  that  Parker  underwent  the  most  cruel  pri- 
vations, and  a  persecution  which  obliged  him  to  fly  from 

*  Gardyner  was#  evidently  a  man  who  resented  opposition  to  his 
will.  To  the  courteous  Ascham,  he  could  be  gracious;  but  to  Sir 
John  Cheke  and  others,  who  opposed  him  in  his  despotic  endeavours  to 
force  a  particular  pronunciation  of  the  Greek  language  on  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cambridge,  he  could  be  relentless.  Cheke  was  subjected  to 
the  usual  process  which  was  adopted  against  those  who  gave  offence 
to  the  government.  He  was  compelled  to  a  recantation.  Being  ac- 
cused, he  was, — in  the  refusal  of  the  government  to  interpose, — without 
a  protector 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  Ill 

place  to  place.     It  is  further  stated,  that  at  one  time  in     chap. 
this  reign,  a  "  narrow  search  was  made  for  him,  which  he,  _^__^ 
having  some  notice  of,  fled  in  the  night  in  great  peril,  and    pf^JT 
got  a  fall  from  his  horse,  so  dangerously  that  he  never    1559-75. 
recovered  it."    The  question  arises,  When  did  this  accident  Parkers 
occur?     We  have  already   read  of  Parker's  peace  and 
happiness  during  the  years  1554, 1555,  and  155G  :  he  could 
hardly  have  failed  to  mention  the  disturbance  of  that  peace 
and  happiness  if  the  search  and  flight  had  occurred  in  any 
of  these  years.     If  the  accident  had  happened  during  the 
last  months  of  Cardinal  Pole's  administration,  we  may  be 
sure  that,  instead  of  being  concealed,  the  fact  would  have 
been  referred  to  by  his  friends,  as  giving  him  a  claim  to 
consideration  on  the  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth.     In- 
stead of  this,  the  accident  occurred  under  circumstances 
of  which  Parker  was  evidently  ashamed*.     In  a  letter  to 
Sir  Nicolas  Bacon,  in  the  year  1558-9,  in  which  he  urges 
his  reasons  for  declining  the  episcopate,  he  employs  these 
remarkable  words  :  "  To  come  to  another  consideration  of 
a  further  imperfection,  which  I  would  have  dissembled  to 
you  and  others ;  but  it  cannot  be  ;  I  must  open  it  to  you, 
my  asured  good  master  and  friend,  in  secresy.  .  .  .  In 
one  of  my  letters  I  made  a  little  signification  of  it ;  but, 
peradventure,  ye  did  not  mark  it."    What  the  secret  was, 
he  goes  on  to  state  in  ambiguous  terms  :  "  Flying,"  he 
says,  "  in  a  night,  from   such  as  sought  for  me  to  my 
peril,  I  fell  off  my  horse    so    dangerously  that  I  shall 
never  recover  it."*     We   have   here* the  fact  that  the 
accident  .did  really  occur  :  we  have  the  further  fact,  that 
it  took  place  under  circumstances  of  which  Parker  was 
ashamed,  or  desired  the  concealment.     The  question  is, 
Was  there  an  event  in  his  life  which,  on  the  accession 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  as  well  as  during  the  reign  of  her 

*  Corresp.  p.  58  ;   Strype,  i.  64. 


112 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAP. 
VII. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


Proclama- 
tion at 
Cam- 
bridge of 
Queen 
Jane. 
July  15, 
1553. 


sister,  it  was  politic  to  conceal  ?    To  such  an  event  we  can 
undoubtedly  refer. 

At  the  time  of  Edward  the  Sixth's  death,  Parker  was 
enjoying  his  otium  cum  dignitate  at  Cambridge.     But  the 
news  of  the  demise  of  the  crown  must  have  filled  him  with 
anxiety,  for  every  one  knew  that  the  accession  of  Mary 
would  impede  the  progress  of  the  Eeformation.    Parker, 
as  we  have  seen,  never  mingled  in  the  politics  of  the  day, 
and  he  received  with  complacency,  rather  than  with  the 
zeal  of  a  partizan,  the  report  that  the  late  king,  with  the 
advice  of  his  privy  council  and  the  sanction  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  Dr.   Cranmer,  had  set  aside  the 
claims  of  the  daughters  of  Henry  VIIL,  and  had  appointed 
the  Lady  Jane  to  be  his  successor.     News,  at  that  time, 
did  not  fly  fast,  and  the  provinces  were  greatly  influenced 
by  what  took  place  in  the  metropolis.     The  authorities 
at  Cambridge  had  not  determined  upon  their  course  of 
action.     When  the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  as  the  re- 
presentative  of  the  government,  appeared   at   the   city 
gates,  he  required,  in  the  name  of  the  government,  that 
measures  should  be  instantly  adopted  for  the  proclama- 
tion of  Queen  Jane.     To  Dr.  Parker,  as  to  other  leading 
men  in  the  university,  the  duke  sent  an  invitation  re- 
questing  them   to  sup  with  him  on  the  evening  of  his 
arrival,  Saturday,  the  15th  of  July.     Dr.  Parker  accepted 
the  invitation,  and  met  at  supper  Dr.  Sandys,  the  vice- 
chancellor,   Dr.  Bill,  and  the  master  of  St.  John's,  Mr. 
Lever.     These  were  zealous  supporters  of  Queen  Jane. 
Parker,  by  not  opposing  the  proposed  measures,  was  sup- 
posed to  have  acquiesced  in  them.     On  the  Sunday,  the 
vice-chancellor  preached ;   and   there   wras   considerable 
excitement   among   all   classes   of    the   people.     Parker 
watched  the  progress  of  events  with   his  usual  caution, 
not  to  say  timidity,  and  remained,  as  much  as  possible,  in 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  113 

retirement.     He  saw  the  duke  on  the  17  th  marching  to     chap. 
Bury,  where  he  expected  to  receive  reinforcements.     For  ^-Jl1'-^ 
reinforcements   there  was  a  necessity,  as  there  was   no     parkliT 
enthusiasm  among  his  soldiers  ;  and  there  was,  from  some    1559-75. 
cause  or  other,  a  reaction  with  the  mob.   His  soldiers  were 
deserting,  and  he  was  himself  disappointed  and  dispirited. 
He  returned  to  Cambridge  on  the  18th,  and  received  in- 
telligence  on  the  19th,  that  Mary  had  been  proclaimed 
in  London  as  the  undoubted  queen  of  this  realm.*     On 
the  20th,  the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  demented  by  his 
fears,  proclaimed  Queen  Mary   at  the  Market  Cross  in 
Cambridge.     Of  the  members  of  the  university,  some  fled 
in  alarm  from  the  city,  and  those  who   remained  used 
their  influence  to  persuade  the  people,  at  first  favourable 
to  Jane,  to  espouse  the  cause  of  Mary,  in  whose  favour 
a  reaction  had  taken  place.     Dr.    Sandys  and  Dr.  Bill 
were  both  of  them  insulted  in  the  regent's  house,  and  the 
former  was  sent  a  prisoner  to  the  Tower  of  London. 

But  where,  all  this  time,  was  Dr.  Parker  ?  We  know 
how  easily  he  was  alarmed,  and  for  alarm  there  was  now 
just  cause.  After  his  attendance  on  the  Duke  of  Northum- 
berland at  supper,  his  name  is  not  mentioned.  Although 
he  had  not  openly  sent  in  his  adhesion  to  the  government 
of  Queen  Jane,  he  certainly  had  not  come  forward  as  a 
loyal  subject  of  Queen  Mary.  If  he  had  asserted  the 
rights  of  Mary  when  Northumberland  arrived  at  Cam- 
bridge, he  would  have  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
mob.  It  was  now  only  known  that  he  had  been  present 
at  the  Duke  of  Northumberland's  supper ;  and  whether 
he  were  silent  on  that  occasion  or  not,  by  outsiders  he 
was  regarded  as  a  partizan  of  Jane.  Against  him,  there- 
fore, the  angry  passions  of  the  populace  were  directed. 
He  fled,  escaping  with  difficulty ;  and  if  we  may  hazard 

*  Stow's  Annals,  p.  612. 
VOL.  IX.  1 


114  .     lives  of  Tin; 

chap,     a  conjecture  as  to  the  time  and  circumstances  of  his  fall 

. r-L^  from  his  horse,  when  flying  by  night,  in  peril,  and  pur- 

Parfc«r    sued  by  his  opponents,  he  fractured  his  leg,  we  may  refer 

1669-75.  to  the  facts  just  stated ;  and  perhaps  we  shall  not  be  far 

wrong  if  we  come  to  the  conclusion,  that  it  was  at  this 

time   that   the   accident   occurred,  the   cause  of  which 

Parker  desired  to  keep  secret. 

It  is  most  probable,  that  Parker's  usual  caution  pre- 
vented him  from  acquiescing  openly  in  the  claims  of  the 
Lady  Jane.  At  the  same  time,  he  had  not  declared 
manfully  in  the  cause  of  Queen  Mary.  The  cause  of 
Mary  was,  in  this  case,  identified  with  that  of  Elizabeth ; 
hence  we  see  that,  in  both  reigns,  there  was  ample  reason 
for  circumspection  and  reticence. 
Parker's  We  have  now  followed  Matthew  Parker  through  the 
earlier  portion  of  his  career.  We  have  seen  the  training 
he  providentially  received  for  the  great  work  to  which 
he  was  about  to  be  called.  It  may  not  be  inexpedient 
here  to  pause,  that  we  may  take  a  view  of  his  character, 
as  impartially  given  by  two  eminent  writers,  who,  although 
they  differed  in  many  of  their  opinions,  were  equally 
capable  of  arriving  at  a  conclusion,  which  is  worthy  of 
the  attention  of  all  who,  in  considering  a  great  man's 
character,  would  weigh  fairly  his  advantages  and  diffi- 
culties, his  merits  and  defects.  Dr.  Cardwell,  in  speakin 
of  Parker,  describes  him  as  "  a  man  of  learning,  of  mo- 
deration, of  system,  and  of  piety,  cautious  in  the  for- 
mation of  his  opinions,  and  firm  in  maintaining  them ; 
but  he  was  retiring  in  his  habits,  slow  in  his  apprehen- 
sions, and  disqualified  for  public  speaking."  He  con 
tinues  to  observe,  "  that,  in  his  general  habits  of  prudence 
and  moderation,  there  were  two  other  points  which 
would  be  thought  likely,  at  that  critical  period,  to  qualify 
him  for   the  exercise  of  Church  authority.     He  had  a 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  115 

profound  respect  for  the  prerogative  of  the  crown,  and     chap. 

dreaded  the  Germanical  natures,  as  he  styled  them,  of  < ^— 

the  English  exiles."*  Archdeacon  Hardwick,  a  discri-  parked 
minating  historian,  describes  Matthew  Parker  as  one  1559-75. 
"  who,  by  nature  and  by  education,  by  the  ripeness  of 
his  learning,  the  sobriety  of  his  judgment,  and  the  in- 
corruptness  of  his  private  life,  was  eminently  fitted  for 
the  task  of  ruling  in  the  Church  of  England,  through  a 
stormy  period  of  her  history  ;  and,  though  he  was  seldom 
able  to  reduce  conflicting  elements  of  thought  and  feeling 
into  active  harmony,  yet  the  vessel  he  was.  called  to  pilot 
has  been  saved  almost  entirely  by  his  skill  from  breaking 
on  the  rock  of  medieval  superstitions,  or  else  drifted  far 
away  into  the  whirlpool  of  licentiousness  and  unbelief,  f 
....  He  was  intimately  acquainted  with  the  records  of 
the  ancient  Church,  and  uniformly  based  his  vindication 
of  our  own  upon  its  cordial  adherence  to  the  primitive 
faith,  and  to  the  practice  of  the  purest  ages.  His  great 
skill  in  antiquity,  to  quote  the  language  of  Strype, 
reached  to  ecclesiastical  matters  as  well  as  historical ; 
whereby  he  became  acquainted  with  the  ancient  liturgies 
and  doctrines  of  the  Christian  Church  in  former  times. 
He  utterly  disliked,  therefore,  the  public  offices  of  the 
present  Eoman  Church,  because  they  '  varied  so  much 
from  the  ancient.'  On  addressing  'the  expulsed'  bishops 
in  1560,  Parker  himself  wrote  :  '  Pray  behold,  and  see 
how  we  of  the  Church  of  England,  reformed  by  our  late 
King  Edward  and  his  clergy,  and  now  by  her  majesty  and 

*  CardwelPs  Common  Prayer,  p.  13. 

j"  "  These  times,"  Parker  himself  writes,  "  are  troublesome.  The 
Church  is  sore  assaulted,  but  not  so  much  of  open  enemies,  who  can  less 
hurt,  as  of  pretended  favourers  and  false  brethren,  who,under  the  colour  of 
reformation,  seek  the  ruin  and  subversion  both  of  learning  and  religion." 
Corresp.  p.  434. 

1  2 


116  LIVES  OF  Tin: 

chap,  hers  reviving  the  same,  have  but  imitated  and  followed 
s- — ^1— *  the  example  of  the  ancient  and  worthy  fathers.'  *  In  his 
Parker,  last  will  Parker  declared,  *  I  profess  that  I  do  certainly 
1559-75.  believe  and  hold  whatsoever  the  holy  Catholic  Church 
believeth  and  receiveth  in  any  articles  whatsoever  per- 
taining to  faith,  hope,  and  charity,-  in  the  whole  sacred 
Scripture.'"  f 

We  have  reason  to  bless  the  providence  of  God  who, 
in  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her  primate,  raised  up  for  us,  in 
the  most  critical  period  of  our  Church's  history,  two 
persons,  who,  in  spite  of  their  faults  or  defects,  were 
enabled  to  see  with  clearness  through  the  surrounding 
gloom,  and  to  steer  the  ship  into  a  port  where  the  waters, 
if  not  as  calm  and  still  as  could  have  been  wished,  could 
no  longer  be  destructive. 

Of  the  faults  of  Elizabeth  we  shall  have  often  to  speak ; 
of  his  own  defects,  Parker  shall  speak  for  himself.  Of 
himself  he  gives  the  following  characteristic  account  in  a 
private  letter  to  Cecil :  "  I  cannot  be  quiet  till  I  have  dis- 
closed to  you,  as  to  one  of  my  best  willing  friends,  in 
secresy,  mine  imperfection  ;  which  grieveth  me  not  so 
much  to  utter  in  respect  of  my  own  rebuke,  as  it  grieveth 
me  that  I  am  not  able  to  answer  your  friendly  report  of 
me  before  time ;  whereby,  to  my  much  grief  of  heart,  I 
pass  forth  my  life  in  heaviness,  being  thus  intruded,  not- 
withstanding my  reluctation  by  oft  letters  to  my  friends, 
to  be  in  such  room,  which  I  cannot  sustain  agreeably  to 
the  honour  of  the  realm,  if  I  should  be  so  far  tried.  The 
truth  is,  what  with  passing  those  hard  years  of  Mary's 
reign  in  obscurity,  without  all  conference,  or  such  man- 
ner of  study,  as  now  might  do  me  service,  and  what  with 
my  natural  vitiosity  of  overmuch  shamefacedness,  I  am 

*  Corresp.  p.  111.  \  Hard  wick  on  the  Articles,  p.  117. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  117 

so  abashed  in  myself,  that  I  cannot  raise  up  my  heart  and 
stomach  to  utter  in  talk  with  other,  which  (as  I  may  saye) 
with  my  pen  I  can  express  indifferently,  without  great 
difficulty;  and  again,  I  am  so  evil  acquainted  with  strangers, 
both  in  their  manner  of  utterance  of  their  speech,  and 
also  in  such  foreign  affairs,  that  I  cannot  win  of  myself 
any  ways  to  satisfy  my  fancy  in  such  kind  of  entertain- 
ments."* 

I  have  made  these  quotations  from  my  desire  to  afford 
the  reader  some  insight  into  Parker's  character  before 
we  enter  upon  his  history  as  a  public  man.  His  faults 
as  well  as  his  virtues,  his  weakness  of  temper  as  well  as 
the  firmness  of  his  principles,  left  an  impress  upon  the 
Church  in  the  reformation  of  which  he  sustained  so  con- 
spicuous a  part.  He  informs  us,  in  his  diary,  that  a 
"Defence  of  the  Marriage  of  Priests,"  in  answer  to 
Thomas  Martin,  occupied  a  portion  of  his  time  during 
Queen  Mary's  reign.  Of  this  work,  however,  he  was 
the  editor,  rather  than  the  author.  Who  the  author 
was,  I  do  not  know.  The  work  was  probably  revised  by 
Parker  to  a  considerable  extent,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
treatise  were  added  ten  sheets  of  Parker's  own  composi- 
tion. In  this,  which  may  be  regarded  as  an  appendix 
to  the  work,  Parker  gives  a  concise  history  of  the  mar- 
riage and  celibacy  of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of 
England,  from  the  first  introduction  of  Christianity  to 
his  own  time. 

He  employed  himself  also  on  a  metrical  version  of  the 
Psalms.  Of  his  version  of  Psalm  xcii.  I  give  the  follow- 
ing specimen : — 

*  Corresp.  p.  199. 


118 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAP. 
VII. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

Of  Sabbath  day,  the  solemn  feast 

Doth  us  excite  by  rest, 
God's  mighty  works  that  we  declare, 

Love  him  for  all  the  best. 

Bonum  est  confiteri. 

A  joyful  thing  for  man  it  is, 

The  Lord  to  celebrate  ; 
To  thy  good  name,  0  (rod,  so  high ! 

Due  lauds  to  modulate. 


To  preach  and  show  thy  gentleness 

In  early  morning  light ; 
Thy  truth  of  word  to  testify, 

All  whole  by  length  of  night. 

Upon  the  psalm,  the  decachord, 

Upon  the  pleasant  lute, 
On  sounding,  good,  sweet  instruments, 

With  shaumes,  with  harp,  with  flute. 

For  thou  hast  joyed  my  fearful  heart, 

0  Lord  !  thy  works  to  see ; 
And  I  with  praise  will  just  rejoice 

These  handy-works  of  Thee. 

How  glorious,  0  blessed  Lord  ! 

Be  these,  the  facts  of  thine  ; 
Thy  thoughts  be  deep,  thy  counsels  high, 

Inscrutable,  divine. 

The  true  elect,  and  righteous  man 

Shall  flourish  like  the  palm ; 
As  cedar  tree  in  Libanus, 

Himself  shall  spread  with  balm. 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY. 


119 


Deep  planted  they,  in  roots  alway, 
In  (rod's  sweet  house  to  bide ; 

Shall  flourish  like,  in  both  the  courts 
Of  this  our  Grod  and  guide. 

In  age  most  sure,  they  shall  increase 

Their  fruit  abundantly ; 
Well  liking  they,  and  fat  shall  be, 

To  bear  most  fruitfully. 


CTTAP. 

VII. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


That  is  to  say,  they  out  shall  preach 
This  Lord's  true  faithfulness, 

Who  is  my  strength  and  mighty  rock. 
Who  hates  unrighteousness, 


120 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  MARY  TO  THE  ELECTION  OF  PARKER. 


CHAP. 
VIII. 


Position  of  Parker  on  the  accession  of  Elizabeth. — The  great  parties  in 
the  country.  —  The  Reformers.  —  The  Exiles.  —  Anabaptists  and 
Lollards. — Papists. — Condition  of  the  clergy. — Character  of  Eliza- 
beth.— Policy  of  the  government. — Conduct  of  the  pope.— Corona- 
tion of  Elizabeth.  —  Parker  summoned  to  London.  —  Liturgical 
Reforms. — Act  of  Uniformity. — Act  of  Supremacy. — Spoliation  Act. 
— Westminster  Conference. — Diocesans  summoned  before  the  Privy 
Council. — Reception  of  the  Prayer  Book. — The  regular  clergy  advo- 
cates of  the  papal  supremacy. — The  secular  clergy  in  favour  of  the 
Reformation. — Apostolical  Succession. — Primacy  offered  to  Parker. 
— Refused.  —  Offered  to  Dr.  Wotton.  —  Offered  to  Feckenham. — 
Parker  nominated  primate. — His  letter  to  the  queen. — His  election. 
— Commissions  for  his  confirmation. — Difference  between  valid  and 
legal  consecration. — Number  of  officiating  bishops  to  make  a  consecra- 
tion legal. — Parker's  confirmation. — Letter  of  the  emperor  to  the  queen. 
— Petition  of  the  Puritans. — Court  of  High  Commission. — Prepara- 
tions for  Parker's  consecration. — William  Barlow  chosen  to  preside. — 
His  history. — Co-operating  bishops. — The  consecration. — Appendix. 


Matthew 
Parker. 


During  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  Parker  had  been 
living  on  his  capital,  and,  at  the  period  of  Elizabeth's 
accession,   his  means  were  nearly  exhausted.     He  had 

1559-75.  in  hand  money  equivalent  to  about  three  hundred  pounds 
of  the  present  currency.  He  was  anxious,  of  course, 
to  be  restored  to  the  preferments  he  had  forfeited;  but  it 
was  a  time  of  considerable  anxiety,  for  Parker  was  well 
aware,  that  Elizabeth  was  obstinately  opposed  to  the  mar- 
riage of  the  clergy,  and  he  was  resolute  in  his  determi- 

EUzabeth's  nation  not  only  not  to  be  separated  from  his  family,  but, 


Com- 
mence- 
ment of 


AECHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  121 

To  crave  fit  disposition  for  my  wife  ;  CHAP. 

Due  reference  of  place  and  exhibition, 


With  such  accommodation,  and  besort,  Matthew 

Parker. 

As  levels  with  her  breeding.*  1559-75. 

He  had  now  two  sons,f  whom  he  regarded  with  parental 
pride  and  fondness.  He  thought  fit,  therefore,  to  "  bide 
his  time"  and  to  remain  in  retirement.  He  possessed 
the  means,  with  great  economy,  of  supporting  himself 
for  a  year  or  two,  until  the  affairs  of  the  Church  should 
be  settled.  His  brother,  Thomas  Parker,  was  a  thriving 
tradesman ;  and  he  had  a  wise  adviser  in  his  half-brother, 
Baker.  The  family  was  a  united  family ;  and  the  only 
cause  of  anxiety,  which  had  lately  existed  in  the  chance 
of  his  being  haled  by  a  common  informer  or  by  an  enemy 
before  an  ecclesiastical  court,  was  now  removed. 

The  position  of  the  government  was  one  of  great 
difficulty;  and  the  difficulty  of  understanding  that  po- 
sition becomes  the  greater,  from  the  fact  that  many 
historians,  employing  the  modern  nomenclature,  divide 
the  country  at  this  period  into  two  great  parties,  with 
their  principles  clearly  defined.  The  truth  is,  as  may  be 
gathered  from  what  has  been  before  stated,  that  there  at 
this  time  existed  in  the  country  several  parties  diametri- 
cally opposed  in  fundamental  principles,  even  when  they 
were  prevailed  upon,  as  was  sometimes  the  case,  to  act 
in  concert. 

There  was  the  great  body  of  English  reformers,  prac-  English 
tical  men,  whose  object  was,  not  to  establish  a  school  of 
thought,  but  simply  to  correct  abuses  in  the  Church ;  not 
to  introduce  new  doctrines,  but  to  return  from  medieval 
fables  to  primitive  truth.     We  have  already  mentioned, 

*  Othello,  act  I.,  sc.  3. 

f  He  had  had  four  sons;  of  these  two  were  taken  from  him  soon 
after  their  birth. 


122  LIVES  OF  Tin: 

€itap.     as  belonging  to  this  party,  the  queen  herself,  together 
• — . — *  with    Cecil,  Sir  Thomas  Smith,   Sir  Ealph  Sadler,  Dr. 

Matt  how 

Parker.  Walter  Haddon,  and  all  those  who,  in  the  first  privy 
1559-75.  council  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  were  characterized  as  re- 
formers. They  had,  many  of  them,  occasionally  con- 
formed in  Mary's  reign,  because  they  knew,  that  although 
there  were  very  serious  differences  between  them  and 
the  papists,  yet  if  these  were  for  a  season  allowed  to 
lie  in  abeyance,  and  if  minor  reforms  were  gradually  in- 
troduced, they  would  win  to  their  side  not  a  few  of  those 
who  were  now  opposed  to  them.  We  need  not  say  more 
upon  this  point,  having  enlarged  upon  it  in  the  preceding 
chapter.  These  men,  at  the  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
assumed  a  position  from  which  they  were  soon  driven : 
their  desire  having  been,  in  the  first  instance,  to  bring 
back  ecclesiastical  affairs  to  the  condition  in  which  they 
had  been  left  at  the  close  of  Henry  VIII. 's  reign,  and 
thence  to  proceed,  with  more  or  less  of  rapidity,  in 
effecting  systematically  the  reform  of  the  Catholic  Church 
in  this  realm. 

In  their  scheme  they  were  thwarted,  and  their  wise 
measures  were  not  unfrequently  frustrated  by  the  oppo- 
sition they  had  to  encounter,  from  what  may  be  regarded 
Exiles.  as  the  second  great  party — that  of  the  Exiles.  These 
persons  contemned  the  moderation  of  the  English  re- 
formers; and  had  associated  with  those  foreigners  who 
were  so  unwisely  invited  into  the  country  in  the  reign 
of  King  Edward.  For  English  institutions  the  foreigners 
entertained  not  the  slightest  affection  or  respect.  In  the 
oldest  and  noblest  of  the  institutions  inherited  from  our 
ancestors — the  Church  of  England — they  actually  desired 
the  demolition  of  all  but  its  revenues.  They  had  been, 
many  of  them,  consulted  on  its  reformation  by  such  men 
as  Cranmer,  but  with  nothing  less  than  a  revolution  would 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF    CANTERBURY.  123 

;hey  be  content.     They  thought    not  of  cleansing    the     chap. 
ancient  fabric,  but  they  desired  to  establish  a  sect  upon 


its  ruins ;  and  their  sectarianism  having  passed  through  ParkeT 
Lutheranism  into  Zwinglianism,  settled  down  at  last  into  1559-75. 
Calvinism. 

A  third  party  consisted  of  the  remnant  of  the  ancient  Anabap- 
Lollards,  who  had  merged  imperceptibly  into  the  Ana-  LoUards1. 
baptists ;  their  political  principles  being  nearly  identical. 
Both  to  the  English  reformers  and  also  to  the  party  of 
the  exiles,  the  Anabaptists  stood  opposed.  Animated  by 
sentiments  of  a  revolutionary  character,  their  profession 
of  religion  was  generally  a  pretext ;  while  to  the  statesmen 
it  certainly  appeared  that  they  sought  the  overthrow  of 
the  Church,  only  as  a  step  towards  the  demolition  of  the 
throne. 

A  fourth, — a  very  small  party, — consisted  of  those  who  Papists. 
were  simply  papists,  who  desired  the  re-establishment  of 
papal  supremacy,  and,  in  point  of  doctrine,  were  ready  to 
receive  the  dogmas  of  Trent,  as  they  were  gradually  pro- 
pounded or  decided. 

While  on  this  subject,  we  must  pause  to  correct  another  Condition 
misrepresentation  of  the  Puritan  writers,  when  they  affirm,  ciergy. 
without  shadow  of  proof,  that  the  clergy  generally  were 
papists  at  heart,  and  came  into  the  Eeformation  with 
great  reluctance  ;  an  assertion  which  charity  is  slow  to 
accept,  since  it  would  insinuate  that,  out  of  a  body  of 
more  than  10,000  men,  almost  all  were  hypocrites  and 
cowards.  If  they  had  been  papists  at  heart — a  fact  which 
none  but  the  Searcher  of  hearts  can  know — they  belied 
the  traditionary  feeling  of  centuries.  The  secular  clergy 
had  for  centuries  murmured  at  the  papal  usurpations ; 
and  we  may  infer  from  the  legislation  of  synods  and 
councils,  that  they  submitted  with  reluctance  to  the  im- 
position of  ceremonies,  which  seemed,  during  every  cen- 


I 


124  lives  of  Tin: 

citap.    tury,  to  increase.     From  this  allegation  the  Regulars  are 
« — -r-^  of  course  excluded.     The  Regulars  were  called  the  pope's 

Matthew  ....  .     ,       ,.  ,  7i  ■  • 

Parker,     militia ;  and  the  histories  ot  the  various  great  monasteries. 

1569-75.  0f  late  brought  to  light,  serve  to  show  how  vehement 
their  desire  was  to  transfer  their  allegiance  from  the 
long-established  hierarchy  of  the  Church  of  England  to 
a  foreign  master.  These  were  the  clergy  who  were 
ready  to  organize  and  conduct  the  various  insurrections 
in  the  time  of  Henry  and  Edward;  and  among  the 
Regulars,  to  their  eternal  disgrace  it  must  be  recorded, 
were  found  too  many  who,  coming  from  foreign  parts, 
were  only  prevented  by  lack  of  opportunity  from  becom- 
ing the  assassins  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  But  it  is  to  be 
remembered,  that  the  Regulars  had  been  deprived  and 
deposed  before  the  accession  of  Elizabeth;  for  the  few 
monastic  restorations  in  the  time  of  Mary  are  not  worthy 
of  notice.  Some  of  the  Regulars,  by  assuming  the 
character  of  secular  priests,  occasionally  obtained  posses- 
sion of  preferments  in  the  Church;  but  these  were  ex- 
ceptional cases,  not  noted  by  the  historian.  The  clergy 
who  remained  were  Seculars,  always  opposed  to  the  pope, 
as  far  as  they  dared  to  oppose  him,  and  in  a  state  of 
chronic  hostility  to  the  monks.  They  were  at  this  time 
generally  in  favour  of  the  royal  supremacy  ;  and  although 
many  were  not  sufficiently  learned  or  well  informed  to 
appreciate,  to  its  full  extent,  the  merit  of  those  changes 
which  had  taken  place  in  our  formularies,  yet  they 
acquiesced  in  the  mandates  of  their  ecclesiastical  supe- 
riors, when  these  were  backed  by  the  authority  of  the 
sovereign.  Slow  and  unwilling  the  older  men  were  to 
learn  a  new  lesson ;  and  to  this  unwillingness  may  be 
generally  traced  the  occasional  omissions  in  regard  to 
the  new  service  book.  What  the  royal  and  episcopal 
visitors  complained  of  was,  not  wilful  opposition,  but  neg- 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  125 

ligence ;  many  of  the  clergy  would  retain  the  old  mump-    chap.1 

simus,  not  from  opposition  to  the  orthodox  sumpsimus, ,_ ^ 

but  because  they  would  avoid  the  trouble  of  making  a    p^ker^ 
change   in   books  to   the   handling  of  which  they  had    1559-75. 
been  accustomed  from  their  youth.    The  ignorance  among 
some  of  the  lower  class  of  clergy  was  such,  that  they 
trusted,  in  the  performance  of  the  divine  offices,  more 

I  to  the  memory  than  to  the  eye.  They  found  it  difficult 
to  read  the  new  offices,  and  they  would  sometimes  prefer 
the  repetition  of  the  old  office  which  they  knew,  to  a 
learning  by  heart  of  the  new  which  they  knew  not. 
So  far  were  they  from  evincing  a  desire  to  return 
to  the  former  state  of  things,  that,  in  spite  of  these  in- 
conveniences, they  progressed,  as  rapidly  as  could  be 
expected,  in  the  line  of  the  Eeformation ;  for,  at  the  end 
of  ten  years,  the  Pope,  from  want  of  sympathizers  among 
the  English  clergy,  was  obliged  to  create  a  schism,  and 
send  a  special  mission  to  this  country.  This  mission 
itself  failed  in  its  object,  because,  during  those  ten  years, 
England  had  become  decidedly  Protestant — so  Protestant 
that  the  representatives  of  "  the  Exiles  "  possessed  a  large 
party  in  the  country,  as  hostile  to  the  English  reformation  4 

as  were  the  papists  themselves,  by  representing  the 
English  reformers  as  not  sufficiently  Protestant.  If  the 
clergy  had  been,  as  they  are  frequently  represented  to 
have  been,  inimical  or  permanently  indifferent  to  the 
Eeformation,  there  would  have  been  no  need  of  that 
Jesuit  mission  which  the  Bishop  of  Eome  sent  into 
England.  The  acquiescence  of  the  clergy  in  the  .  re- 
forming measures  of  the  Church,  receives  a  still  further 
indirect  proof  from  the  fact,  that,  among  the  leading  dig- 
nitaries of  the  Church,  there  were  some  who  would  have 
encouraged  them  to  resistance.  Archbishop  Heath,  and 
the  bishops  who  acted  with  him,  would  not  have  retired 


Elizabeth. 


126  lives  of  Tin; 

chap,     so  quietly  as  they  did  from  their  preferments,  if  the; 

■ r— '  had  not  become  quite  aware  that,  in  a  resistance  to  the 

pJrkerT  government,  they  could  depend  on  scarcely  any  support 
1559-75.  from  their  clergy.  We  shall  have  occasion  hereafter 
to  show,  that  although  they  thought  it  due  to  the  dignity 
of  their  character  to  resign  their  sees,  they  were,  many 
of  them,  by  no  means  opposed  to  such  a  reformation 
as  would,  if  taken  in  time,  have  satisfied  the  English 
reformers. 

Queen  ^  Having  given  a  brief  sketch  of  the  great  parties* 
which  met  the  government  of  Elizabeth  on  her  first 
coming  to  the  throne,  it  is  important  that  I  should  lay 
before  the  reader  the  opinion  which  I  have  formed  of 
the  great  queen's  character ;  for  it  is  to  be  remembered, 
that  Elizabeth  ruled  as  well  as  reigned,  and  thus  be- 
came, not  only  the  queen  of  the  realm,  but  a  party  in 
the  state. 

Of  the  character  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  a  view  too 
favourable  may,  at  one  time,  have  been  adopted  by  a 
nation  grateful  for  the  benefits  she  had  conferred  upon 
it :  in  the  present  age,  on  the  contrary,  a  pleasure 
seems  to  be  taken,  which  may  almost  be  described  as 
malignant,  in  vilifying  the  private  character  of  a  vain 
woman,  in  order  to  detract  from  the  marvellous  powers 
of  mind  exhibited  by — the  solecism  will  be  pardoned — a 
female  statesman,  in  whose  reign  England  was  raised 
from  a  second-rate  power  to  the  high  position  among  the 
kingdoms  of  the  earth,  which  the  nation  has  ever  since 
sustained.  The  merits  of  Queen  Elizabeth  as  a  politician 
and  statesman  are  summed  up  by  Camden,  in  the  remark : 

*  The  great  body  of  clergy  and  laity  described  in  the  preceding 
paragraph,  were  not  formed  into  a  party  ;  they  did  not  act  in  concert ; 
they  were  not  Papists  and  Protestants,  but  Medievalists  with  Pro- 
testant proclivities. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  127 

"Let  her  noble  actions  recommend  her  to  the  praise  chap. 
and  admiration  of  posterity :  religion  reformed ;  peace  - — r— 
established ;  money  reduced  to  its  true  value  ;  a  most  parked 
complete  fleet  built ;  our  naval  glory  restored  ;  England,  1559-75. 
for  forty  years,  most  prudently  governed,  enriched,  and 
strengthened ;  Scotland  rescued  from  the  French  ;  France 
itself  relieved ;  the  Netherlands  supported ;  Spain  awed  * 
Ireland  quieted."  He  adds  as  a  climax,  what  in  these 
days  would  be  regarded  as  scarcely  worthy  of  notice, 
"  the  whole  world  sailed  round."  To  this  we  may  fur- 
ther add,  without  seeking  to  justify,  or  even  to  palliate, 
the  tyranny  and  passion  with  which  she  effected  her 
objects,  she  pursued  with  success  the  policy  of  her 
grandfather,  in  repressing  the  almost  regal  power  of  the 
nobles,  and  in  elevating  the  commercial  aristocracy  of 
the  land.  When  to  her  moral  character  and  that  of 
her  court  reference  is  made,  we  must  not  leave  out  of 
our  consideration  the  spirit  of  the  age  and  the  character 
of  the  times.  Society  was,  at  that  period,  in  a  trans- 
itional state.  It  was  passing  from  the  unreality  of  a 
worn-out  age  of  chivalry,  without  having  yet  reached 
the  point  of  modern  refinement.  In  external  things 
there  was  much  of  pomp  and  ceremony ;  but  the  gross- 
ness  of  vice  was  not  concealed  when  the  pressure  of 
ceremony  was  withdrawn.  There  was  much  magnificence 
with  little  elegance ;  much  of  grandeur,  but  little  of  com- 
fort ;  a  superfluity  of  ridiculous  sentiment  combined  with 
actual  licentiousness.  There  was  courtesy,  on  the  part  of 
courtiers,  towards  their  equals ;  but,  upon  their  vindictive 
passions,  by  these  very  persons  no  restraint  was  placed, 
when  those  passions  were  roused  against  an  enemy  or 
an  inferior.  The  nobles  and  the  men  of  the  middle  class, 
though  frequently  at  variance  with  one  another,  were 
united  too  often  in  the  oppression  of  the  lower  orders. 


128  LIVES   OF   TUG 

chap.    When,  over  a  society  so  composed — split  into  factions, 
. — _*  religious  and  political,  and  open  to  the  threats  and  ma- 
Parker.    noeuvres  of  Spain  and  France — a  young  woman,  at  first 
1559-75.    almost  unbefriended,  was   called   upon   to   preside,  the 
marvel  is,  not  that  she  should  occasionally  err,  but  that 
she  should  come  forth  acknowledged  by  her  contempo- 
raries as  one  of  the  wisest  statesmen  of  an  age  abounding 
with  great  characters. 

If  libels,  gossip,  and  caricatures  are  to  be  regarded 
in  the  light  of  historical  documents,  no  historical  character 
can  be  protected  against  the  envy  and  misrepresentations 
to  which,  whoever  is  eminent  in  any  of  the  various 
departments  of  human  exertion,  will,  in  an  evil  world, 
be  exposed.  Prominence  in  position  provokes  attack. 
If,  on  such  authorities  as  those  to  which  allusion  has 
been  made,  we  were  to  rely,  the  purest  and  most  amiable 
of  the  present  generation  might  be  handed  down  to 
posterity,  the  very  opposite  in  appearance  to  what  he  is 
in  reality. 

We  must  reprobate  the  attempt  frequently  made  to 
blacken  the  character  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  by  the  repub- 
lication of  the  scandalous  chronicles  of  her  age.  At  all 
events,  these  statements  should  be  qualified,  if  not  con- 
tradicted, by  the  testimony  borne  to  the  excellence  of 
Elizabeth's  character,  by  the  great  writers  who  shed  lustre 
upon  the  Elizabethan  era, — poets,  historians,  divines, 
philosophers,  including  Shakspeare  and  Spenser,  Bacon, 
Burghley,  Hayward,  Camden,  and  Hooker.  They  do  not 
hesitate  to  admit  and  to  lament  the  frivolities,  the  absurd- 
ities, the  indiscretions  of  the  woman ;  but,  admitting  this, 
we  must  observe  that  of  the  indecent  stories,  on  which 
persons  of  a  stern  morality,  if  not  of  deep  religious  feel- 
ing, delight  to  dwell,  most  of  them  are  to  be  traced  to  the 
scandalous  correspondence  of  foreign  ambassadors  with 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  129 

their  respective  courts,  when  it  was  the  policy  of  those     chap. 
courts  to  create  a  prejudice  against  the  queen;  or  else  < — S L-^ 
they  may  be  traced  to  the  libels  industriously  circulated    p^LiT 
by  Jesuits  and  Seminary  priests.  1559-75. 

With  respect  to  the  scandals  circulated  in  foreign  courts, 
we  have  no  less  an  authority  than  that  of  Catherine 
de  Medici  herself,  to  affirm  that  they  were  easily  accepted, 
but  never  believed.  We  have  the  still  stronger  testimony 
of  the  French  ambassador,  Michael  de  Castelnau,  to  the 
same  effect.  This  personage  had  been  much  in  England ; 
he  was  in  close  and  confidential  correspondence  with 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots  ;  and  while  his  diplomatic  relations 
were  with  the  enemies  of  Elizabeth,  he  was,  at  the  same 
time,  so  familiar  with  her  court,  her  favourites,  and  her 
nobles,  that  he  must  have  known  almost  all  that  could  be 
known  of  her  secret  history.  Therefore  we  may  attach 
no  ordinary  credit  to  his  assertions,  when,  convinced  of  the 
untruth  of  the  defamatory  stories  so  industriously  pro- 
pagated, he  went  out  of  his  way  to  leave  the  following 
honourable  and  decisive  testimony  to  the  character  of  the 
queen  :  "  If  some  persons  have  wished  to  tax  her 
memory  with  having  amorous  attachments,  I  will  say 
with  truth  that  they  are  inventions  forged  by  the  ma- 
levolent, and  from  the  cabinets  of  ambassadors,  to  avert 
from  an  alliance  with  her  those  to  whom  it  would  have 
been  useful/'  This  was  written  by  him  in  his  private 
memoirs,  when  he  could  have  had  no  possible  motive  for 
defending  the  queen,  or  for  making  a  statement  which 
was  not  true. 

As  regards  the  principle  upon  which  the  Jesuits  and 
papists  acted,  it  is  unintentionally,  but  very  clearly,  revealed 
to  us  by  no  less  a  person  than  Cardinal  Allen.  Speaking 
of  Elizabeth,  he  says :  "  She  is  a  caitiff,  under  God's  and 
holy  Church's  curse,  given  up  to  a  reprobate  mind,  and 

VOL.  IX.  K 


130  LIVES   OF   THE 


chap,     therefore  "  (let  the  conclusion  be  compared  with  the  pre- 
mises), and  therefore  "  her  open  enormities  and  her  secret 


Parked  sms  must  ^e  great  ail(l  not  numerable.',  The  cardinal 
1559-75.  might  have  added  another  therefore ;  and  might  with 
equal  force  have  affirmed,  that,  because  these  sins  must 
have  existed  in  this  caitiff,  though  they  cannot  be  dis- 
covered, yet  they  may  be  imagined ;  and  therefore  the 
inventions  of  a  prurient  imagination  have  been  handed 
down  to  posterity  as  historical  statements. 

Cardinal  Allen  has  a  bad  pre-eminence  in  the  art  of  lying ; 
but  he  was  surpassed  by  Sanders,  of  whose  veracity  we  may 
judge,  when  we  find  him  repeatedly  asserting,  that,  in  the 
English  Prayer  Book,  the  devotions  offered  by  the  papis 
to  the  Virgin  Mary  are  tendered  to  Queen  Elizabeth 

A  well-informed  writer,  who  has  thoroughly  examine 
the  subject,  has  with  great  accuracy  and  ability  trace 
to  their  source  the  stories  impeaching   the  queen's  m< 
rality,  which  have  been  stereotyped  for  the  use  of  car 
less   or  partial  historians,  male   and    female.      Having 
verified  his  references,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  endorsing 
his   conclusions,   when  he  proves  them  to  rest  upon  a 
countess  whose  "  naturel"  was  notorious,   and  who 
least  on  one  occasion  made  a  public  confession  of  lying 
upon  an  ambassador,  whose  secretary  ran  away  from  hi: 
on  account   of  his  abhorrence  of  his  system  of  lying 
upon  a  Scotch  courtier,  who  made  a  boast  to  his  court 
his  success  in  lying ;  upon  a  groom,  who  was  pilloriec 
for  lying ;  upon  an  unknown  rogue,  whose  ears  wen 
cut  off  for  lying;  upon  another,  whose  words  were  sc 
shocking,  that  the  magistrates  were  ashamed  to   writ( 
them  down ;   upon  two   murderers ;   and,  finally,  upor 
Cardinal  Allen  and  Dr.  Sanders.* 

Whether  it  be  more  reasonable  to  give  credit  to  the 

*  See  Fraser's  Magazine,  Nov.  1853,  where  will  be  found  the  au 
thorities  for  these  statements 


ie 

: 

: 

ig 

>g 
a 

I 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  131 

assertion  of  persons  known  to  be  liars  and  libellers  in     chap. 
the  age  in  which   they  wrote,  or   to   suppose   all   that  — ^1— 
England  held  in  every  rank  of  life,  and  in  every  depart-    pSW 
nient  of  literature,  in  the  most  celebrated  epoch  of  our    1559-75. 
country's  history,   to   have   been  flatterers,  sycophants, 
and  worse  caitiffs  than  the  worst  of  women  could  have 
been,  may  at  least  admit  of  a  doubt. 

One  other  argument  in  her  favour  I  cannot  forbear  to 
produce.  Her  three  favourites,  about  whom  scandal  has 
been  most  busy,  were  Leicester,  Hatton,  and  Essex  ;  and 
these  three  men  were  victims  of  her  tyranny  as  Well  as 
of  her  affection.  Leicester  had  often  to  tremble  under 
her  capricious  disposition ;  the  last  days  of  Hatton  were 
embittered  by  her  bringing  against  him  a  charge  of 
peculation ;  Essex  died  on  the  scaffold.  When  favour- 
ites have  at  any  time  secrets  to  divulge,  they  invariably 
become  the  tyrants  of  the  sovereigns  who  place  them- 
selves in  their  power ;  their  silence  is  purchased  by  un- 
worthy concessions  unwillingly  made. 

Upon  the  whole,  the  reader  would  not  be  far  wrong 
who  should  give  credit  to  any  amount  of  indiscretion  on 
the  part  of  Elizabeth,  in  social  and  private  life  ;  but  if  he 
sifts  the  evidence  adduced  by  her  most  bitter  enemies,  he 
will  repudiate  the  charges  brought  against  her  morality 
— with  which,  after  all,  we  are  only  then  concerned — 
when  it  can  be  proved  that  they  influenced  her  conduct 
as  a  queen. 

We  must  here  pause  again  to  remind  the  reader,  that 
Elizabeth  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  constitutional 
sovereign,  dependent  upon  the  advice  of  responsible 
ministers.  Throughout  her  life  she  was  her  own  prime 
minister ;  and  some  of  the  worst  instances  of  her  vulgarity 
and  insolence  upon  record  may  evidently  be  traced  to 
her   determination  to   show,   that  although,  as  she  re- 

JL   2 


132  LIVES   OF   THE 


chap,  marked,  "  she  had  but  the  body  of  a  weak  and  feeble 
— ^-1—  woman,  she  had  nevertheless  the  heart  and  stomach  of  a 
ParkerT  king,  aye,  and  of  a  king  of  England  too."  There  may 
1559-75.  have  been  something  of  policy  as  well  as  of  passion  in  the 
oaths  she  occasionally  uttered,  and  the  violence  of  action 
to  which  she  sometimes  condescended.  She  was  proud 
of  being  able  to  swear  like  a  king.  Cecil  was  not  a 
minister  in  the  same  sense  as  Chatham,  Pitt,  Peel,  or 
Gladstone.  Although  Elizabeth  was  guided  by  his  wis- 
dom and  influenced  by  his  counsel,  Cecil  was  made  to 
keep  his  distance  as  a  servant  of  the  crown,  and  was  care- 
ful, as  her  confidential  secretary,  to  let  it  be  known,  that 
the  policy  of  his  government  depended,  not  on  his  own 
will,  but  on  that  of  the  queen.  What  is  mentioned  by 
the  great  Lord  Bacon  in  commendation  of  Cecil,  would  be 
produced  as  an  impeachment  against  a  modern  minister : 
"  having  given  advice  when  asked,  Cecil  rested  on  such 
conclusions  as  her  majesty  in  her  own  will  determined 
and  then  did  his  best  to  carry  them  into  effect 
great  matters  she  would  defer  to  him ;  in  minor  matters 
she  took  pleasure  in  showing  her  independence,  some- 
times to  the  detriment  of  the  public  service." 

When  seated  on  her  throne,  when  presiding  at  th< 
council  board,  or  when  conversing  with  the  agents  of  diplo 
macy,  Elizabeth  would  put  forth  such  masculine  powers 
of  mind,  as  not  only  to  astonish  the  illustrious  statesmen, 
whom  her  sagacity  had  called  to  her  counsels,  but  to 
compel  foreign  ministers,  such  as  the  illustrious  Sully 
himself,  to  acknowledge  and  declare  that,  even  in  her  old 
age,  she  held,  and  deserved  to  hold,  among  the  politicians 
of  the  day,  the  highest  place. 

But  with  her  robes  of  office,  Elizabeth  seemed  too  often 
to  put  off  her  better  self;  and,  when  she  descended  from 
her  throne,  she  not  unfrequently  fell  as  much  below  the 


LCh 

t 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  133 

level  of  her  own  sex,  as  on  other  occasions  she  rose  above  chap. 
it.  She  unwisely  disregarded  the  conventionalities  of  -  vnL  - 
society  ;  and  the  frivolities — tolerated  in  a  young  woman  ParkST 
by  astonished  statesmen — being  persevered  in  when  an  1559-75. 
unacknowledged  old  age  crept  upon  her,  she  became  an 
object  of  ridicule  to  many  whose  sardonic  smiles  belied 
the  flattery  of  their  lips.  There  sometimes  seemed  to  be 
an  ingrained  malignity  in  her  very  nature,  which  found 
pleasure  in  giving  pain,  or  in  causing  annoyance,  in  little 
things.  After  accepting  the  advice  of  her  councillors  in 
Church  or  State,  she  would  sometimes  find  a  perverse 
pleasure  in  making  the  performance  of  their  duty  as 
irksome  and  difficult  as  possible.  When  measures  of 
real  and  great  importance  were  under  consideration,  she 
would  repel  the  approach  of  her  courtiers,  if  they  sought 
to  make  private  gain  out  of  public  events.  But,  although 
what  we  are  about  to  say  seems  scarcely  consistent  with 
what  has  been  said  before,  yet  it  was  the  cas'e  with 
Elizabeth,  as  it  had  been  with  her  father,  she  found 
pleasure  in  giving  pleasure  to  others,  and  would  some- 
times gratify  her  favourites  by  concessions  and  grants 
which  her  ministers  found  it  difficult  to  meet.  In  fact, 
the  besetting  sin  both  of  Henry  VIII.  and  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  was  selfishness.  They  were  willing  to  do  kind 
acts,  but  were  equally  willing  to  destroy  any  one,  high 
or  low,  who  offered  an  impediment  to  the  progress  of 
their  selfish  desires  ;  but,  in  both  cases,  the  sovereign  was 
identified  with  the  people,  and  England  felt  that,  although 
Elizabeth,  like  her  father,  would  sacrifice  individuals  to 
her  caprice,  she  also,  like  her  father,  was  ready  to  lay 
down  her  life  for  her  country. 

It  is  thus  that  we  can  account  for  her  treatment  of 
Leicester.  She  wished  to  marry;  she  pined  for  the 
comforts  of  domestic  life.     Her  heart  was  given  to  Kobert 


134  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap.     Dudley;  but,  after  severe   struggles,  she  sacrificed  her 

VIfL-,  private  affections  for  the  good  of  her  country.     Any  one 

Parker*   acquainted  with  the  correspondence  of  Cecil  and  his  con- 

1559-75.    temporaries  must  arrive  at  this  conclusion ;  and,  instead 

of  ridiculing  the  weakness  of  the  woman,  he  will  seek 

to  do  justice  to  the  conduct  of  a  patriotic  queen. 

Such  was  the  mistress  whom  Matthew  Parker,  a  shy, 
retiring,  stammering,  studious  valetudinarian,  was  com- 
pelled to  serve.  His  character  was  not  yet  developed ;  his 
many  excellences  were  upon  the  surface  ;  his  weaknesses 
at  this  time  were  known  only  to  himself.  In  the  selection 
or  acceptance  of  Parker  for  her  primate,  Elizabeth  exhi- 
bited that  sagacity  by  which  she  read,  as  it  were  by 
intuition,  the  character  of  those  with  whom  she  was 
associated.  She  had  known  Parker,  not  intimately,  but 
long ;  and  she  saw  that,  in  an  age  of  progress,  his  prin- 
ciple was  festina  lente.  Amidst  enthusiasts  he  had 
no  enthusiasm ;  amidst  the  controversies  of  the  day 
he  distinguished  between  reform  and  revolution.  He 
had  studied  the  writings  of  Zwingle,  Luther,  and 
Calvin;  and,  knowing  their  faults  as  well  as  their 
merits,  he  had  no  inclination  to  follow  their  lead.  He 
had  studied  the  fathers  and  the  general  councils, 
and  knew  the  deviations  of  the  Church  of  Eome  from 
primitive  truth.  He  could  distinguish  between  things 
essential  and  things  non-essential.  Like  the  queen  herself, 
he  had  perceived  how  he  might  avoid  giving  offence  to 
the  existing  government  in  Queen  Mary's  reign,  without 
renouncing  his  character  as  a  reformer.  Perhaps  no 
one  could  be  found  whose  principles  more  nearly 
accorded  with  those  of  Elizabeth ;  but  she,  instead 
of  invariably  aiding  him  in  the  difficulties  he  had  to 
surmount,  was  continually  found  to  thwart  him  by  the 
concessions  she  made  to  unworthy  courtiers. 


I 


measures 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  135 

On  the  17th  of  November,  1558,  Queen  Elizabeth 
ascended  the  throne.  Historians,  writing  with  a  foregone 
conclusion,  are  accustomed  to  represent  her  government  ^j^ 
as  directing  its  first  attention  to  ecclesiastical  affairs  ;  but,  1559-75. 
if  we  have  recourse  to  fact  instead  of  conjecture,  this  was 
certainly  not  the  case.  It  was  her  opinion,  as  it  was  the 
hope  of  her  wisest  advisers,  that,  unpopular  as  had  been 
the  extreme  though  opposite  measures  of  the  respective 
governments  of  Edward  VI.  and  Queen  Mary,  the  Church 
would  at  once  subside  into  the  condition  in  which  it  had 
been  left  by  Henry  VIII. ;  and  that  her  ministers  and 
clergy  would,  on  that  basis,  gradually  carry  on  the 
reformations,  the  necessity  of  which  they  all  admitted. 

While  Elizabeth  was  yet  at  Hatfield,  and  before  her  First 
first  interview  with  her  council  for  the  despatch  of  enter' 
business,  she  had,  after  a  consultation  with  Cecil,  directed  reign* 
him,  as  her  confidential  adviser,  to  draw  up  a  statement  of 
the  measures  which  at  once,  and  without  loss  of  time, 
ought  to  occupy  the  attention  of  the  government.  De- 
plorable, indeed,  was  the  condition  of  the  country.  The 
treasury  was  exhausted,  the  revenue  anticipated;  in 
addition  to  which  there  was  a  debt,  considered,  at  that 
time,  enormous,  of  not  less  than  four  millions.  Not  only 
was  trade  depressed,  but  the  coin  was  scandalously 
debased ;  there  was  pestilence,  to  make  more  vehement 
the  discontent  at  home ;  the  feeling  of  indignation  at  the 
loss  of  Calais  was  heightened  by  the  fact,  that  the  country 
was  involved  in  war  for  the  interest  of  Spain;  there 
was  a  pretender  to  the  throne,  and  the  legitimacy  of 
its  occupant  was  called  in  question.  In  this  long  list  of 
grievances  the  religious  question  was  only  one  item ;  and 
in  Cecil's  scheme  of  business,  so  far  from  making  the  re- 
ligious question  the  primary  consideration,  he  scarcely 
thought  it  necessary  to  notice  it. 


136  LIVES   OF  THE 


VIII 

i* 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


chap.        To  satisfy  the  reader  upon  this  point,  I  will  present  him 
with  the  minute  itself. 

"  I.  To  consider  the  proclamation,  and  to  proclaim  it,  and 
to  send  the  same  to  all  manner  of  places  and  sheriffs  with 
speed,  and  to  print  it. 

"  II.  To  prepare  the  Tower,  and  to  appoint  the  custody  thereof 
to  trusty  persons,  and  to  write  to  all  the  keepers  of  forts  and 
castles  in  the  queen's  name. 

"  III.  To  consider  for  the  removing  to  the  Tower,  and  the 
queen  there  to  settle  her  officers  and  council. 

"  IV.  To  make  a  stay  of  passages  to  all  the  ports  until  a  cer- 
tain day ;  and  to  consider  the  situation  of  all  places  dangerous 
towards  France  and  Scotland,  especially  in  this  charge. 

"  V.  To  send  special  messengers  to  the  Pope,  Emperor,  the 
Kings  of  Spain  and  Denmark,  and  to  the  State  of  Venice. 

"  VI.  To  send  new  commissioners  to  the  Earl  of  Arundel  and 
Bishop  of  Ely  [who  were  treating  a  peace  at  Cambray'],  and 
to  send  one  into  Ireland  with  a  new  commission ;  and  letters 
under  the  queen's  hand  to  all  ambassadors  with  foreign 
princes  to  authorize  them  therein. 

"  VII.  To  appoint  commissioners  for  the  interment  of  the 
late  queen. 

"  VIII.  To  appoint  commissioners  for  the  coronation  and  the 
day. 

"  IX.  To  make  a  continuance  of  the  term,  with  patents  to 
the  chief  justice,  to  the  lord  treasurer,  justices  of  each  bench, 
barons,  and  masters  of  the  rolls,  with  inhibition,  Quod  non 
conferant  aliquod  officium, 

"  X.  To  appoint  new  sheriffs  and  justices  of  the  peace,  to 
continue  the  old,  by  a  proclamation  to  be  sent  to  the  sheriffs 
under  the  great  seal. 

"XI.  To  inhibit  by  proclamation  the  making  over  of  any 
money  by  exchange,  without  knowledge  given  to  the  queen's 
majesty,  and  to  charge  all  manner  of  persons  that  either  have 
made  any,  or  have  been  privy  to  any  exchange  made,  by  the 
space  of  one  month  before  the  17th  of  this  month. 

"XII.  To  consider  the  preacher  of  Paul's  Cross,  that  no 


. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OP   CANTERBURY.  137 

occasion  be  given  by  him  to  stir  any  dispute  touching  the     CHAP, 
overnance  of  the  realm."  *  ^-L-^ 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


In  this  memorandum  it  will  be  observed,  that,  instead 
of  defying  the  pope,  communications  were  to  be  opened 
with  him  ;  instead  of  encouraging  Protestants,  precautions 
were  taken  against  the  possible  exhibition  of  party  feeling 
at  Paul's  Cross.  The  sermon  at  Paul's  Cross  very  fre- 
quently partook  of  a  political  character,  and  had  much 
the  same  effect  upon  the  public  mind  as  a  leading  article 
of  "  The  Times  "  in  the  present  day.  What  was  heard 
was  repeated,  and  even  when  assent  was  not  given  to  the 
opinions  uttered,  those  opinions,  nevertheless,  had  a  silent 
influence  upon  the  public  mind.  It  belongs  to  the  general 
historian  to  notice  the  rapidity  and  decision  with  which 
the  measures  here  suggested  were  carried  into  effect. 
It  may  be  doubted  whether  any  page  of  history  can  be 
produced  in  which  an  account  is  given  of  so  much  having 
been  done  in  a  single  year  as  was  accomplished  in  the 
first  twelve  months  of  Elizabeth's  reign.  In  one  short 
year  the  country  was  raised  from  "  the  slough  of  despond ;" 
and  the  first  great  step  was  taken  in  a  career  of  prosperity, 
which  terminated  only,  if  it  can  be  said  to  have  terminated 
then,  with  the  great  queen's  life. 

Our  object  in  alluding  to  these  political  events  in  this 
place,  is  simply  to  show  that,  although  the  government, 
for  reasons  presently  to  be  advanced,  was  at  a  very  early 
period  involved  in  religious  controversy,  the  establishment 
of  Protestantism,  as  distinct  from  the  Catholic  Church, 
was  not  the  object  of  Queen  Elizabeth  or  her  advisers, 
when  first  she  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  this  realm.  In 
the  modern  sense  of  the  word — although  always  a  re- 
former— she   was   not  and  never  became  a  Protestant. 

*  Cottonian  MSS.  tit.  C.  x.  21. 


138 


LIVES   OP   THE 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew- 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


If,  at  any  time,  she  upheld  the  Protestant  cause,  it  was 
upon  political  grounds,  and  not  from  a  religious  en- 
thusiasm. If  we  confine  the  word  Protestant  to  its  modern 
meaning,  we  have  to  remark,  that  not  a  single  Protestant 
was,  on  Elizabeth's  accession  to  the  crown,  added  to  her 
council.  All  the  members  of  the  council  were  Catholics; 
all  insisted  on  their  right  to  that  title.  The  queen,  in  the 
proclamation  of  her  title,  declared  herself  to  be  not  only 
the  defender  of  the  faith,  but,  as  if  to  exclude  all  doubt 
upon  the  subject,  "  of  the  trewe,  ancient,  and  Catholic 
faithe."* 

The  Catholic  queen  retained  in  her  council  thirteen 
statesmen  who  had  occupied  the  same  post  in  the  council 
of  Queen  Mary.  Elizabeth  added  to  that  council  seven 
other  persons,  not  one  of  whom  was,  at  that  time,  a 
Lutheran,  a  Zwinglian,  or  a  Calvinist.  Whatever  they 
may  have  afterwards  become,  these  eminent  men  had 
conformed  to  the  existing  services  of  the  Church,  when 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  had  been  superseded  by 
the  Breviary,  Missal,  and  Manual.f  If  the  queen  desired 
to  gather  round  her  political  advisers,  we  can  scarcely 


*  Nares's  Burghley,  ii.  24. 

f  See  Soames,  iv.  604.  When  a  party  writer  is  unable  to  account 
for  conduct,  he  is  too  apt  to  attribute  motives.  If  he  does  so,  he  ought, 
even  when  attributing,  through  lack  of  charity,  a  wrong  motive,  at  least 
to  admit  the  possibility  of  the  existence  of  a  right  motive.  Soames 
attributes  the  occasional  conformity  of  such  men  as  Cecil  and  Knollys 
simply  to  a  fear  of  the  stake.  We  have  seen  that  another  motive  may  be 
attributed  to  them :  that  they  did  not  regard  the  corruptions  of  the 
Church,  in  which  they  had  been  educated,  as  touching  upon  fundamen- 
tals ;  so  that,  without  concealing  their  opinion,  that  a  reformation  was 
required,  they  were  ready  to  "  bide  their  time."  Some  of  them  after- 
wards may  have  taken  a  different  view  of  the  case,  but  such  was  their 
opinion  at  the  time  under  consideration.  Mr.  Hallam,  whose  charity 
seldom  slumbers  except  when  religion  is  concerned,  speaks  of  the 
majority  of  Elizabeth's  council  as  consisting  of  pliant  conformists. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  139 

imagine  a  council  more  judiciously  chosen.     All  English     chap. 
parties  were  fairly  represented ;  the  Protestants  being,  at  ^-I^L. 
this  period,  regarded  in  the  light  of  foreigners.     If  it  had  Mpa^. 
been  the  design  of  the  queen  or  of  Cecil  to  erect  a  Pro-    1559-75. 
testant  sect  upon  the  ruins  of  the  English  Church,  their 
conduct  would  have  been  as  impolitic  as  it  would  have 
been  iniquitous.     Their  object,  which  was  a  compromise 
between  the  contending  extremes,  was  defeated,  almost  as 
soon  as  it  was  conceived,  by  the  violence  of  the  Protestants 
on  one  side,  and  a  want  of  wisdom,  as  well  as  of  charity,  on 
the  part  of  the  pope  and  his  partizans.   The  first  measures 
of  the  government  were,  in  truth,  directed  against  the 
Protestants;  and  the   papists    were    unwise   enough   to 
complicate  affairs  by  refusing  to  assist  the  government,  or 
to  tolerate  a  compromise. 

The  exiles  had  assumed  that  the  accession  of  Eliza- 
beth was  to  be  the  triumph  of  their  party.  Although 
Elizabeth  had  conformed  to  the  Eoman  ritual,  although 
she  had  never  regarded  herself  as  a  Protestant,  she  was 
known  to  be  a  reformer.  Her  chief  friends  had  been 
selected  from  the  friends  of  the  Eeformation :  they  had 
been  the  persons  to  whom  her  education  had  been 
confided  ;  and  by  them  stories  were  propagated,  showing 
her  hostility  to  the  Eomanist  party,  under  which  she 
had  been  persecuted,  her  very  life  having  been  more  than 
once  threatened.  The  exiles  imagined  that  the  papists 
would  rise  in  favour  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  and  that 
Elizabeth  would  be  dependent  entirely  upon  Protest- 
ants for  the  support  of  her  throne.  They  calculated, 
judging  from  their  own  feelings,  on  the  reactionary  spirit 
in  England.  They  believed  that  the  Anabaptists  and 
Lollards  were  more  in  number  than  was  actually  the 
case  ;  that  they  only  waited  for  that  leadership  which 
they  were  ready  to  supply.     With  the  exception  of  the 


140 


LIVES   OP   THE 


CHAP. 
VIII. 


small  party  at  Frankfort,  they  were  eager  to  supplant 
the  English  Keformation  by  the  introduction  of  foreign 
Protestantism,  and  they  had  most  of  the  learned  writers 
on  their  side.  Associating  with  the  foreign  Protestants, 
they  divided  the  religious  world  into  two  great  parties 
— Protestants  and  Papists.  By  Protestantism  the  major- 
ity of  the  English  exiles  meant,  not  Lutheranism,  but 
Calvinism.  They  regarded  the  Lutherans  as  semi-papists, 
and  predicated  Lutheranism  of  the  English  reformers, 
such  as  Parker  and  Cecil.  In  a  state  of  enthusiasm, 
such  as  party  feeling  only  can  excite,  they  rushed  into 
England  intent  on  the  demolition  of  popery.  Uninvited 
by  the  government,  they  appeared  unexpectedly  in  the 
country,  and  were  inflaming  the  minds  of  the  people  ;  by 
too  many  of  whom  the  idea  of  reformation  was  con- 
nected with  spoliation  and  rapine. 

In  an  age  when  the  first  principles  of  toleration  were 
unknown,  the  moderation  evinced  by  Elizabeth's  govern- 
ment was  as  remarkable  as  it  was  praiseworthy.  The 
majority,  both  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  people,  until  the 
arrival  of  the  exiles,  were  evidently  prepared  to  remain 
at  peace  so  long  as  they  were  assured  of  security  to  their 
persons  and  property ;  they  were  ready  to  submit  to 
reforms  rather  than  to  seek  them.  It  was  not  known 
how  the  bench  of  bishops  was  likely  to  act.  Many  of 
them  had  acquiesced  in  the  reforms  of  Henry  VIII. ;  and 
it  was  felt  that  if,  as  was  probable,  they  would  give  their 
support  to  the  government,  the  Protestants  might  be 
brought  to  terms.  In  the  mean  time  it  was  the  policy 
of  the  government  to  protect  the  peaceable  subjects  of 
the  queen,  and  not  to  exasperate  the  fanatics  on  either 
side. 

From  the  lukewarmness,  if  not  the  avowed  hostility  of 
the  hierarchy,  it  was  gradually  perceived  that  the  queen, 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  141 

owever  unwilling,  might  have  to  place  herself  at  the     chap. 
head  of  the  Protestant  interest.     Extreme   caution  was  < — ,— ^ 
necessary,  and  there  was  not  likely  to  be  want  of  caution    Parked 
in  a  ministry  of  which  Cecil  was  the  head.     On  the  28th    1559-75. 
of  December  a  proclamation  was  issued,  which  has  been 
so  often  misrepresented,  that  I  think  it  right  to  place  it 
before  the  reader,  in  order  that  he  may  form  his  own 
judgment  upon  the  contents. 

"  The  Queerfs  proclamation  to  forbid  preaching,  and  allowing 
only  the  reading  of  the  Epistles  and  Gospels,  &c,  in  English 
in  the  churches. 

"  By  the  Queen. 

"  The  Queen's  majesty,  understanding  that  there  be  certain 
persons,  having  in  times  past  the  office  of  ministry  in  the 
Church,  which  now  do  purpose  to  use  their  former  office  in 
preaching  and  ministry,  and  partly  have  attempted  the  same ; 
assembling,  specially  in  the  city  of  London,  in  sundry  places, 
great  number  of  people,  whereupon  riseth  among  the  common 
sort,  not  only  unfruitful  dispute  in  matters  of  religion,  but  also 
contention,  and  occasion  to  break  common  quiet,  hath  there- 
fore, according  to  the  authority  committed  to  her  highness,  for 
the  quiet  governance  of  all  manner  her  subjects,  thought  it 
necessary  to  charge  and  command,  like  as  hereby  her  highnes8 
doth  charge  and  command,  all  manner  of  her  subjects,  as  well 
those  that  be  called  to  ministry  in  the  Church  as  all  others, 
that  they  do  forbear  to  preach  or  teach,  or  to  give  audience  to 
any  manner  of  doctrine  or  preaching,  other  than  to  the  Gospels 
and  Epistles,  commonly  called  the  gospel  and  the  epistle  of  the 
day,  and  to  the  Ten  Commandments,  in  the  vulgar  tongue, 
without  exposition  or  addition  of  any  manner  of  sense  or 
meaning  to  be  applied  or  added ;  or  to  use  any  other  manner 
of  public  prayer,  rite,  or  ceremony  in  the  Church  but  that 
which  is  already  used  and  by  law  received ;  or  the  common 
Litany  used  at  this  present  in  her  majesty's  own  chapel,  and 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Creed  in  English,  until  consultation 


I 


142  LIVES   OF  THE 

CHAP,  may  be  had  by  Parliament  by  her  majesty  and  her  three  estates 

.  .  of  this  realm,*  for  the  better  conciliation  and  accord  of  such 

Matthew  causes  as  at  this  present  are  moved  in  matters  and  ceremonies 

1559-75.  of  religion."! 

In  this  document  we  see  nothing  of  the  Protestant 
queen,  for  it  is  evident,  that  it  was  against  the  returning 
exiles  that  the  proclamation  is  chiefly  pointed.  The  tone 
of  the  proclamation  was  preserved  in  a  speech  soon  after 
addressed  to  Parliament  in  the  queen's  name  by  Sir 
Nicolas  Bacon — what  would  now  be  called  the  Queen's 
Speech.  Sir  Nicolas  stated,  in  the  name  and  by  the 
authority  of  his  royal  mistress,  that  "  no  party  language 
was  to  be  kept  up  in  this  kingdom ;  that  the  names  of 
heretic,  schismatic,  papist,  and  such  like,  were  to  be  laid 
aside  and  forgotten ;  that,  on  the  one  side,  there  must  be  a 
guard  against  unlawful  worship  and  superstition,  and,  on 
the  other,  things  must  not  be  left  under  such  a  loose 
regulation  as  to  occasion  indifferency  in  religion  and 
contempt  of  holy  things."  J 

In  this  speech  we  have  an  exposition  of  the  principles 
of  the  government.  What  the  government  desired  was, 
that  things  might  be  left  in  statu  quo  until  the  proper 
time  arrived  for  deliberation.  The  men  of  the  old 
learning  were  satisfied  by  the  pledges  given,  that  no  altera- 
tions in  the  service  of  the  Church  should  take  place, 
except  those  to  which  they  had  formerly  sent  in  their 
adhesion.  Mass  continued  to  be  celebrated  in  the  churches 
from  November,  1558,  to  June,  1559.  Among  the  return- 
ing exiles  there  were  many  who  had  been  ejected  from 
their  livings ;  or  whose  livings,  on  their  flying  from  the 
country,  had  been  declared  to  be  vacant :  these  persons 

*  /.  e.  the  lords  spiritual,  the  lords  temporal,  and  the  commons  in 
parliament  assembled. 

f  Strype's  Annals,  I.  ii.  391.  J  D'Ewes'  Journal,  p.  12. 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  143 

expected  that,  in  the  new  reign,  they  would  be  re-admitted     chap. 

into  their  benefices ;  but  they  had  been  legally  dispossessed  . r— 

on  account  of  their  flying  from  their  cures,  or  from  want    Parked 
of  compliance,  on  their  part,  with  the  statutes  of  the    1559-75. 
realm,  or  with  the  canons  of  the  Church ;  and  the  queen 
would  not  permit  the  present  occupants  to  be  disturbed 
so  long  as  they  consented  to  conform  to  the  regulations 
of  the  Queen,  the  Convocation,  and  the  Parliament.* 

The  queen's  conduct  was  in  keeping  with  her  policy. 
She  was  as  regular  as  her  sister  had  been  in  her  attend- 
ance at  mass  ;  and  to  the  ancient  ceremonies  she  did  not 
hesitate  to  declare  her  attachment,  even  after,  as  an  act  of 
policy,  she  had  given  her  assent  to  the  Bill  of  Uniformity. 

*  Strype  remarks,  that  the  affairs  of  the  Church  "  continued  for  a 
while  in  the  same  posture  and  condition  they  were  in  before,  abating 
persecution  for  religion,  mass  celebrated  in  the  churches,  the  ejected 
and  exiled  clergy  not  restored  to  their  former  places  and  preferments, 
the  popish  priests  keeping  possession  ;  orders  that  things  in  the  Church 
should  for  the  present  continue  as  they  were ;  such  punished  as  inno- 
vated in  anything  in  the  Church  or  public  worship ;  which  put  the 
favourers  of  the  gospel,"  as  he  calls  them,  "  under  great  fears  and 
jealousies;  and  they  began  to  suspect  the  queen  intended  to  make  none 
or  very  little  amendment  in  religion."  Annals,  I.  i.  74.  The  returned 
exiles  were  impatient  as  well  as  intolerant,  and  they  exhibited  a  spirit 
quite  as  persecuting  as  that  of  Mary.  "  In  the  time  of  Mary,"  says 
Jewel,  who  afterwards  became  a  wiser  and  a  better  man,  "  every  thing 
was  carried  impetuously  forward.  There  was  no  waiting  then  for  law 
and  precedent.  But  now  every  thing  is  managed  with  as  much  slow- 
ness and  wariness  as  if  the  word  of  God  was  not  to  be  received  on  his 
own  authority.  As  Christ  was  thrown  out  by  his  enemies,  so  He  is  now 
kept  out  by  his  friends.  The  consequence  is,  that  they  who  favour  us 
are  grievously  discouraged,  while  our  adversaries  are  full  of  hope  and 
exultation."  This  letter  is  given  by  Burnet,  but  he  does  not  quote  his 
authority.  It  is  important  to  observe,  that  there  was  as  much  want  of 
charity  on  one  side  as  on  the  other.  In  another  letter  Jewel  complains, 
that  the  returned  exiles  were  not  consulted ;  and  he  adds :  "  The 
queen  will  not  be  entitled  the  Head  of  the  Church,  at  which  I  certainly 
am  not  displeased." 


144  LIVES   OF   THE 


chap.  The  Protestants,  on  the  other  hand,  were  saved  from 
*rr— -—  despair,  when  they  heard,  that  she  prohibited,  during  the 
Parker,  celebration  of  the  mass,  the  elevation  of  the  host.  The 
1559-75.  host  was  elevated  that  it  might  be  worshipped;  and 
against  this  worship,  which  they  regarded  as  idolatrous, 
the  English  reformers  stood  as  resolutely  opposed  as  the 
foreign  Protestants.  This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was 
the  danger  alluded  to  in  the  preceding  chapter,  which  the 
English  reformers  constantly  dreaded.  They  did  not  object 
to  attend  at  the  mass,  against  which,  except  as  related 
to  the  elevation  of  the  host,  the  Protestants  had  little  to 
urge.  But,  on  the  point  of  transubstantiation,  they  were 
determined  to  make  a  stand.  Elizabeth's  conduct  there- 
fore, in  this  respect,  was  significant.  Although  she  did 
not  declare  herself  a  Protestant,  as  the  exiles  understood 
the  word,  yet  she  took  her  place  among  the  reformers. 

The  extreme  parties  were,  of  course,  discontented  ;  and, 
from  their  correspondence  with  the  foreign  Protestants, 
we  find  the  returned  exiles  the  most  violent,  and  the  most 
intolerant.  They  expected  the  queen  to  place  herself  at 
the  head  of  their  faction,  and  their  indignation  was  equal 
to  their  disappointment,  when  they  found  her  determined 
to  act  as  the  sovereign  of  the  realm,  instead  of  being 
merely  the  queen  of  a  party.  She  took  the  Church  as  she 
found  it,  and,  admitting  the  necessity  of  a  reformation,  she 
felt  her  way  with  caution,  and,  until  she  was  compelled 
by  circumstances,  she  desired  to  persuade  all  honest 
parties,  by  mutual  concessions,  to  co-operate  for  the  well- 
being  of  Church  and  State.  The  royal  chapel — the  model 
of  other  places  of  worship — remained  the  same  as  it  had 
been  in  the  late  queen's  reign  ;  the  ancient  ceremonies 
were  continued  ;  on  the  decorated  altar  a  crucifix  stood, 
with  the  approbation  of  the  Lutherans,  though  denounced 
by  the   Calvinists ;   before   the  sacrament,   tapers  were 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF  CANTERBURY.  145 

lighted,  while,  with  the  smoke  of  incense,  prayer  was  chap. 
offered  to  the  King  of  kings  ;  to  the  altar — the  solium  x__Z^Hl^ 
Christi — obeisance  was  made  whenever  the  chancel  was  porker* 
approached.  It  must,  indeed,  be  admitted,  that  the  chapel  1559-75. 
royal  bore  a  nearer  resemblance  to  a  ritualistic  church  of 
the  nineteenth  century  than  to  a  Protestant  meeting-house. 
If  it  be  said  that  this  was  unbecoming  in  a  Protestant 
queen,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  this  title  was  not,  at  this 
time,  assumed  by  Elizabeth ;  it  was  forced  upon  her  by 
the  Puritans,  as  the  exiles  were  now  beginning  to  be 
called,  when  they  determined  to  elect  her  as  their  leader. 
Determined  as  she  was  to  have  the  Protestants  in  readi- 
ness to  act  as  an  army  of  reserve,  her  first  desire  was  to 
induce  her  bishops  to  resume  the  position  they  had  oc- 
cupied in  her  father's  reign.  On  the  19th  of  November, 
when  the  queen  went  in  state  from  Hatfield  to  London, 
the  prelates  of  the  Church  of  England  met  her  at  High- 
gate,  where  they  were  graciously  received  and  kissed 
hands.  We  are  informed  that  she  received  a  loyal  ad- 
dress from  them  "  with  no  small  contentment."  By  her 
desire  the  obsequies  of  the  late  queen  were  celebrated 
with  great  magnificence  in  Westminster  Abbey ;  and  there, 
as  in  her  own  chapel  and  the  other  churches  in  London, 
the  mass  was  celebrated  under  the  forms  observed  in  King 
Henry's  reign.  In  the  same  place,  shortly  after,  were 
celebrated  the  obsequies  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  She 
thus  proclaimed  to  Europe,  what  she  had  already  left  it 
to  her  own  people  to  infer,  that,  although  she  was  deter- 
mined upon  a  reformation,  she  intended  to  preserve  the 
ancient  Church  of  her  realm ;  ready  to  advance,  but  to 
advance  with  caution."*     In  the  funeral  of  Pole,  both 

*  Heylin,  ii.  266,  ed.  Rob.  By  this  writer  it  is  said,  that  Elizabeth 
refused  to  permit  her  hand  to  be  kissed  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  the 
notorious  Bonner;   but,  if  such  was  the  case,  Bonner  did  not  take 

VOL.    IX.  L 


146  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,  the  queen  and  Cecil  took  such  a  deep  interest  as  to  con 
* — r-^  firm  the  general  opinion  that,  to  his  kind  offices,  both  of 
Parker,  them  had  been  under  obligations.  When  the  Convocation 
1559-75.  assembled  on  the  27th  of  January,  1559,  it  was  opened 
with  the  high  mass.  It  was  not  concealed  that  negotia- 
tions had  commenced  at  Eome ;  and  it  was  evident  to  all, 
that  no  decided  steps  would  be  taken  in  the  affairs  of 
religion  until  the  policy  of  Eome,  as  it  regarded  the  ac- 
cession of  the  queen,  should  be  made  known. 
Conduct  of  Such  was  the  policy  of  the  queen  and  Cecil.  On  a 
t  ©  ope.  reform  they  were  determined ;  to  Calvinism  they  were 
opposed.  The  character  of  the  reformation  would  depend 
upon  the  proceedings  of  the  pope,  whether  conciliatory 
or  otherwise.  There  was  no  wish  to  form  an  alliance  with 
the  Protestants ;  but  Elizabeth  soon  showed  that  she  was 
not  to  be  trifled  with ;  and  when  she  was  obliged  to 
make  a  stand,  she  made  it  sufficiently  clear  that  her 
disposition  to  effect  a  reconciliation  between  discordant 
parties  did  not  proceed  on  her  part  from  want  of  vigour 
of  mind  or  strength  of  will.  Whether  she  would  come 
to  terms  with  the  pope,  it  was  for  his  holiness  to  decide. 
But  instead  of  meeting  her  half  way,  the  impassioned  old 
man  lent  an  ear  to  the  hostile  representations  of  the  French 
ambassador;  and  the  French  ambassador  had  already 
acquired  an  influence  over  a  mind  often  distorted  by  pas- 
sion and  prejudice,  and  now  deprived  of  its  pristine  vigour 

offence ;  for,  although  he  was  not  permitted  to  officiate  at  the  queen's 
coronation,  he  lent  his  vestments  to  one  of  his  brethren.  "  Let  me  add 
one  particular  more,  as  preparatory  to  the  queen's  coronation.  The 
lords  sent  to  Bonner,  Bishop  of  London,  to  lend  to  the  Bishop  of 
Carlisle,  who  was  appointed  (as  they  writ)  to  execute  the  solemnity  of 
the  queen's  majesty's  coronation,  universum  apparatum  pontificium  qiw 
uti  solent  episcopi  in  hujusmodi  magnificis  illustrissimorumregum  inaugu- 
rationibus,  i.  e.  all  the  pontifical  habits  that  bishops  were  wont  to  use  in 
such  glorious  inaugurations  of  most  illustrious  kings." 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF  CANTERBURY.  147 

by  the  increasing  imbecility  of  old  age.  Sir  Edward  chap. 
Carne,  the  English  ambassador  at  Borne,  was  instructed  to  ^ 
wait  upon  the  pontiff,  and  in  due  form  to  acquaint  him 
of  the  accession  of  his  royal  mistress  to  the  English 
throne.  He  was  also  directed  to  express  the  young 
queen's  determination  not  to  offer  violence  to  the  con- 
sciences of  her  subjects  ;  an  assertion  tantamount  to  a 
proposal  to  confer  with  his  holiness  on  the  condition  of 
the  Church  of  England.  To  conciliate  the  pope  was  a 
matter  of  considerable  importance  to  the  queen.  Being 
aware  that  the  Protestants  could  not  do  without  her,  she 
paid  but  little  attention  to  their  interests.  The  one  point 
she  wished  now  to  establish  was  the  recognition  of  her 
right  to  the  throne.  Foreign  powers  were  hesitating, 
doubtful  as  to  the  course  which  their  several  interests 
might  induce  them  to  adopt.  One  word  from  the  pope 
would  have  disarmed  the  enemies  of  Elizabeth,  and  would 
have  strengthened  the  hands  of  her  friends. 

To  the  overtures  of  Elizabeth,  however,  an  answer  was 
returned,  insolent  in  tone,  and  offensively  coarse  in  lan- 
guage. Paul  IV.  dared  to  affirm,  that  "  the  kingdom  of 
England  was  held  in  fee  of  the  apostolic  see  ;  that  Eliza- 
beth, being  illegitimate,  could  not  succeed  to  the  throne  ; 
that  assuming  the  government  without  his  sanction  was 
on  her  part  an  impertinence ;  and  yet,"  he  added,  "  being 
desirous  to  show  a  fatherly  affection,  if  she  would  re- 
nounce her  pretensions,  and  refer  herself  wholly  to  his 
free  disposition,  he  would  do  whatever  might  be  done 
without  damage  to  the  holy  see."* 

By  this  insolent  and  impolitic  answer  it  became  appa- 
rent to  Elizabeth  and  Cecil,  that,  while  still  intending  to 
pursue  a  conciliatory  policy,  they  must  in  future  rely 

*  Sarpi,  p.  111.  PaUavicino,  ii.  532.  Heylin,  ii.  2G8.  Strype, 
Annal^,  I.  i.  36. 

t  2 


148  LIVES   OF   TIIU 

chap,    upon  the  Protestants.     The  exiles  were  now  permitted  to 

- — r— '  return  to  their  homes,  and  were  at  this  time  invariably 

Parker,     treated  with  the  respect  due  to  their  learning,  their  piety, 

1559-75.    and  their  past  sufferings,  precautions  being  at  the  same 

time  taken  to  maintain  the  principles  of  the  Church  ;  and 

by  concessions,  which  were  often  too  liberally  made,  to 

win  them  over  to  support  the  English  against  the  foreign 

Eeformation. 

But  a  greater  attention  to  the  conciliation  of  Pre 
testants  did  not  prevent  the  government  from  pursuing 
the  course  they  had  already  adopted,  of  meeting  the 
wishes  of  those  among  the  queen's  subjects  whose  in- 
clinations were  known  to  attract  them  to  Eome,  pro- 
vided they  were  willing  to  submit  to  the  royal  supre- 
macy, and  to  obey  all  legal  enactments.  Here  again  the 
policy  of  the  government  was  thwarted,  not  so  much  by 
the  hostility,  as  by  the  weakness  of  the  existing  hierarchy. 
The  bishops,  unaware  of  the  master-mind  of  their  youthful 
sovereign,  imagined  that  by  declining  to  support  her  go- 
vernment, they  might  bend  her  to  their  will.  We  know, 
that  to  the  Eeformation  itself  they  were  not  disinclined; 
but  disgrace  had  been  brought  upon  the  episcopate  by 
their  submission  to  the  various  changes  in  regard  to  re- 
ligion, which  had  taken  place  in  the  preceding  reigns  ; 
they  felt,  that  they  ought  to  make  a  stop  somewhere, 
and  they  could  not  do  so  better  than  when  an  inex- 
perienced young  woman,  with  a  questionable  title,  had 
ascended  the  throne.  They  evidently  wished,  while  main- 
taining their  position,  to  offer  as  little  trouble  as  possible 
to  the  queen  and  her  council ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
they  were  urged  by  their  friends  on  the  Continent  to  act 
with  determination  and  vigour.  They  miscalculated  both 
their  own  strength  and  the  weakness  of  the  queen.  They 
soon  found  that  there  existed  in  her  that  clear  perception 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  149 

of  her  aim  and  that  firmness  of  purpose  in  which  they    chap. 
themselves  were  lacking.     Beyond  their  opposition  there  -  VIT11'-,. 
was  little  to  complain  of  in  their  conduct,  and  this  ac-   ^trkeT 
counts  for  the  kind  treatment  accorded  to  them  when  they    1559-75. 
resigned  their  sees.     An  indiscreet  sermon  by  the  Bishop 
of  Winchester,  Dr.  White,  at  the  funeral  of  Queen  Mary, 
gave  just  cause  of  offence  to  the  Protestants,  whom  he 
outraged;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  was  regarded, 
either  by  the  bishops  themselves  or  by  the  government, 
as  speaking  the  sentiments  of  the  hierarchy.     It  was  the 
outburst  of  an  intolerant  temper,  which  was  visited  by 
an  order  of  council  that  he  should  confine  himself  to  his 
house  for  a  week,  a  precautionary  measure,  both  to  pacify 
the  Protestants  and  to  prevent  a  disturbance. 

It  was  the  policy  of  the  government  to  remain  on  good  Prepara- 
terms  with  the  bishops,  because,  from  the  circumstances  the  Coro- 
under  which  Queen  Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne  of  her  natlon- 
ancestors,  the  coronation  was,  in  her  case,  a  ceremonial  of 
more  than  ordinary  importance.     It  was  important  that 
ancient  precedent  should  be  followed  as  nearly  as  possible, 
and,  as  the  essential  point  in  the  service  was  not  the  mere 
placing  of  the  crown  upon  the  sovereign's  head,  but  the 
unction  of  the  royal  person,  whereby  she  was  invested 
with  a  quasi-sacred  character,  it  was  also  important  that 
this  function  should  be  discharged  by  a  bishop.     There 
were  indeed  several  bishops  in  England,  but  they   had 
been  ousted  from  their  dioceses ;  and  the  attendance  of  at 
least  three  of  the  diocesans  was  greatly  to  be  desired. 
As  in  modern  times  a  coronation  is  regarded  as  a  mere 
court  pageant,  the  following  remarks  of  a  learned  writer 
are  worthy  of  being  quoted  for  the  information  of  the 
reader:     "The    anointing    was    always    held   to   confer 
sacreclness  upon  the  person  of  the  sovereign,  and  for  this 
we  have   the   authority  of  St.  Augustine,   who  speaks, 


150  LIVES   OF  THE 

chap,  indeed,  of  the  earlier  unction  of  the  Jewish  kin^s  ;  but 
- — r-^  the  argument  is  the  same.  '  Quaero,  si  non  habebat  Saul 
Parked  sacramenti  sanctitatem,  quid  in  eo  David  venerabatur? 
1559-75.  gi  autem  habebat  innocentiam,  quare  innocentem  per- 
sequebatur  ?  nam  cum  propter  sacrosanctam  unctionem, 
et  honoravit  vivum,  et  vindicavit  occisum :  et  quia  vel 
panniculum  ex  ejus  veste  praescidit,  percusso  corde  trepi- 
davit.  Ecce  Saul  non  habebat  innocentiam,  et  tamen 
habebat  sanctitatem,  non  vitas  sua?  (nam  hoc  sine  inno- 
centia  nemo  potest)  sed  sacramenti  Dei,  quod  et  in  malis 
hominibus  sanctum  est.'  The  reader  will  observe  that 
St.  Augustine  calls  the  regal  unction,  in  the  above  pas- 
sage, a  sacrament ;  nor,  relying  upon  his  authority,  does 
there  appear  to  be  any  objection  to  the  use  of  so  high  a 
term,  in  the  same  wide  sense  in  which  we  speak  of  the 
sacrament  of  orders,  or  of  marriage.  So,  also,  St.  Gregory 
the  Great  says  expressly,  'Quia  vero  ipsa  unctio  sacra- 
mentum  est,  is  qui  promovetur,  bene  foris  ungitur,  si  intus 
virtute  sacramenti  roboretur.,  '  Eex  unctus,'  says  Lynd- 
wood,  '  non  mere  persona  laica  sed  mixta  secundum 
quosdam.'  But  this  anointing  must  not  be  looked  upon, 
neither  ever  has  it  been,  as  conferring  any  sacerdotal 
right  or  privilege  :  the  sovereigns  of  England  are  supreme 
in  all  cases  whether  ecclesiastical  or  civil,  as  in  the  one, 
so  in  the  other,  both  before  and  after  the  solemnity  of 
the  coronation ;  nor  are  their  prerogatives  increased  by 
its  performance,  or  hindered  by  its  delay:  and,  as  before 
they  have  no  power,  so  neither  after  the  regal  unction 
have  they  any  right  or  authority  to  minister  the  sacra- 
ments, or  the  Word  of  God."  * 

*  Maskell,  iii.  xiv. ;  see  also  Freeman's  Norman  Conquest,  iii.  622. 
This  remarkable  work  is  as  valuable  to  the  archgeologist  as  to  the  histo- 
rian. One  of  the  ecclesiastical  laws  of  St.  Edward  the  Confessor  is  entitled 
"Quid  sit  regis  officium"  and  begins,  "Rex  autem,  qui  vicarius  sumnii 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  151 

We  come  now  to  an  extraordinary  page  of  history.     It     chap. 
is  the  custom  for  almost  every  writer  to  state,  that  only  * — r— - 
one  bishop  officiated  at  the  coronation  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ;    ParkerT 
but  these  very  writers,  when  describing  the  coronation,    1559-75. 
are  obliged  to  admit  the  presence  of  others.*    The  queen, 
Cecil,  and  her  present  advisers,  generally,  were  accustomed 
to  attend  the  mass,  though  the  queen  would  not  permit 
the  elevation  of  the  host,  for  the  reasons  already  given.     It 
was  probably  on  this  account  that  Archbishop  Heath,  on 
whom  devolved  the  right  of  crowning  the  queen,  the  see 
of  Canterbury  being  vacant,  declined  to  officiate  on  the 
occasion.     But  the  elevation  of  the  host  was  not  necessary 
to  satisfy  those  who  assisted  at  the  mass,  i.  e.  who  attended 
the  celebration  without  partaking  of  the  sacrament.    The 

regis  est,  ad  hoc  est  constitutus,  ut  regnum  terrenum  et  populum 
Domini  et  super  omnia  sanctam  veneretur  ecclesiam  ejus,  et  regat." 
Wilkins's  Concilia,  i.  312.  And  compare  the  second  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  Institutes  of  an  Earthly  King.  Thorpe,  Ancient  Laws  and 
Institutes,  ii.  305.     Maskell,  vol.  iii.  p.  xiv.  xvi. 

*  Dr.  Nares,  for  example,  in  his  Lite  of  Burghley,  asserts  that  the 
bishops  refused  to  assist  at  the  coronation ;  and,  drawing  upon  his 
imagination,  he  gives  the  reasons  for  their  absence  ;  and  yet  he  says  of 
Burghley,  that  he  "  appears  to  have  been  placed  particularly  nigh  to  the 
queen's  person;  since,  in  the  account  to  be  seen  in  the  Ashmolean 
Museum,  when  the  queen  approached  the  altar,  where  cushions  of  gold 
were  placed  for  her  use,  we  read  that  Secretary  Cecil  delivered  a  book 
to  the  bishop,  and  there  was  a  bishop  standing  at  the  left  hand  of  the 
altar."  Nares,  ii.  24.  Camden  seems  to  be  the  authority  on  whom 
the  historians  alluded  to  have  relied;  but  Soames  reminds  us  that,  when 
Elizabeth  was  crowned,  the  great  antiquary  was  a  child ;  and,  although 
he  asserts  that  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle  officiated,  he  does  not  say  that  the 
others  were  absent.  Soames  truly  remarks,  that  all  the  bishops  were 
present,  although  so  great  had  been  the  mortality  on  the  episcopal 
bench,  that  the  number  was  small.  I  may  l^ere  add,  that  Bishop 
Oglethorpe  was  by  no  means  a  narrow-minded  man  ;  he  admitted  even 
that  "  the  form  and  order  of  religion  now  set  forth,"  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI.,  was  nearer  the  practice  of  the  primitive  and  apostolical 
Church  than  that  which  was  formerly  in  England. 


251 


LIVES    OF   THE 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew 
Parker. 


difficulty  was  at  length  overcome,  Bishop  Oglethorpe 
having  expressed  his  readiness  to  meet  the  wishes  of  the 
queen.  If  the  queen  conceded  everything  to  the  dio- 
1559-75.  cesans,  except  one  ceremony,  it  was  not  much  for  the 
diocesans,  at  a  time  when  they  still  entertained  the  hope 
of  bending  Elizabeth  to  their  will,  to  yield  to  what  they 
regarded  as  a  prejudice  on  her  part  which  might  hereafter 
be  overcome.  So  many  concessions  had  already  been 
made  that  more  might  be  fairly  expected. 

The  coronation  was  in  fact  performed  with  the  usual 
ceremonies  and  with  the  mass ;  not  according  to  the 
Eomish  form,  as  some  unfriendly  historians  are  pleased  to 
assert,  but  according  to  the  old  Church  of  England  formu- 
lary, which,  admitting  adaptations  to  the  exigencies  of 
each  reign,  had  existed  from  the  earliest  periods  of  our 
history,  and  which  is  substantially  the  form  still  in  use.* 

*  The  late  Sir  Francis  Palgrave  informed  me,  that  it  is  the  form  that 
was  always  adopted  at  the  coronation  of  the  emperor.  The  learned 
writer  whom  I  have  already  quoted  remarks:  "  It  would  not  be  right  to 
speak  of  the  coronation  service,  which  I  have  edited  in  this  volume,  as 
of  the  use  of  Sarum,  although  taken  from  the  pontifical  of  that  church; 
nor,  in  like  manner,  of  the  same  service  as  according  to  the  use  of 
Winchester  or  Exeter.  Those  churches,  at  the  periods  when  the  par- 
ticular copies  of  their  pontificals  were  written,  now  at  one  time,  now 
at  another,  adopted  and  included,  according  to  its  then  state,  this  office, 
which  formed  one  of  the  chief  duties  of  the  bishops  of  the  Church. 
The  coronation  service  was  always  '  according  to  the  use  of  the  Church 
of  England ; '  or,  on  account  of  its  high  privilege  as  the  place  where  the 
solemnity  was  to  be  performed,  '  according  to  the  use  of  the  church  of 
Westminster  ; '  so  also,  in  modern  times,  the  coronation  service  must  be 
regarded  as  '  according  to  the  use  of  the  Church  of  England.'  The 
earliest  state  in  which  we  find  the  order  as  it  was  in  the  pontifical  of 
Egbert,  Archbishop  of  York,  in  the  eighth  century,  is  not  different  in- 
deed from  that  which,  was  last  used  upon  the  coronation  of  her  present 
majesty.  The  alterations,  whether  of  omission  or  addition,  have  been 
made  gradually  ;  and  it  is  probably  true  that  there  has  never  yet  been 
a  coronation  without  the  service  being  subjected  to  some  change,  either 
for  the  better  or  for  the  worse.     The  records  of  Ethelred,  Henry  I., 


Jan.  15. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OP   CANTERBURY.  153 

The  diocesan  bishops  attended   with    the   exception   of    chap. 
Bonner,  who,   nevertheless,   as   has   been  before  stated,  ^J^L^ 
lent  his  scarlet  robes  to  one  of  the  prelates,  who  would     pST 
not   otherwise   have    been   properly   equipped    for   the    1559-75. 
occasion.     The  prelate  who  officiated  was  the  Bishop  of 
Carlisle,  Dr.  Owen  Oglethorpe.     On  the  15th  of  January  Corona- 
the  coronation  took  place  in  Westminster  Abbey.     The  EiiLbeth. 
queen  went  first  to  Westminster  Hall,  and,  says  Strype, 
"there  went  before   her   trumpets,  knights,  and   lords, 
heralds  of  arms  in  their  rich  coats ;  then  the  nobles  in 
their   scarlet,  and  all  the   bishops   in  scarlet;   then   the 
queen,  and  all  the  footmen,  waiting  upon   her  to   the 
Hall.     There  her  grace's  apparel  was  changed.     In  the 
Hall  they  met  the  bishop  who  was  to  perform  the  cere- 
mony, and  all  the  chapel,  with  three  crosses  borne  before 
them,  in  their  copes,  the  bishop  mitred,  and  singing  as 
they  passed,  Salve  festa  dies — all  the  streets,  new  laid 
with  gravel  and  blue  cloth,  and  railed  in  on  each  side, 
and  so  to  the  Abbey  to  mass,  and  there  her  grace  was 
crowned.     Thence,  the  ceremony  ended,  the  queen  and 
her   retinue  went  to  Westminster  Hall   to  dinner  ;  and 
every  officer  took  his  office  at  service  upon  their  lands, 
and  so  did  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  and  the  Alder- 
men.   * 

From  a  desire  to  explain  the  position  assumed  by  the 
several  parties  with  which  the  government  had  to  contend, 
I  have  been  induced  partially  to  anticipate  the  history  of 

Edward  II.,  and  Richard  II.  prove  this,  no  less  than  those  of  James  I., 
or  George  I.,  or  Queen  Victoria." 

*  Strype's  Annals,  I.  i.  44.  The  writer  of  these  pages  was  pre- 
sent at  the  coronation  of  George  IV. :  seeing  him  first  in  the  Hall,  he 
followed  him  to  the  Abbey,  and  then  returned  to  the  Hall,  where  was 
"high  feasting;"  and,  except. that  the  mass  was  turned  into  the  com- 
munion, he  might  have  described  what  he  witnessed  very  nearly  in 
the  words  given  in  the  text. 


154  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap.     Parker.    Antecedently  to  the  coronation  he  had  arrived  in 

. ,_ '  London ;  and  to  his  conciliatory  manners  and  clear  in- 

ParkeiT   sight  into  the  real  position  of  affairs,  we  may  attribute  the 
1559-75.   satisfactory  termination  of  the  negotiations  relating  to  the 
coronation.     No  party  could  now  gainsay  the  fact,  that 
Elizabeth  of  England  was  an  anointed  sovereign. 

Although  considerably  senior  to  Cecil  and  Bacon,  Parker 
had  been  their  friend  and  adviser  during  their  career  at 
Cambridge,  and  an  intimacy  ensued.  When  the  concilia- 
tory policy  of  the  government  was  determined  upon,  Cecil 
advised  the  queen  to  call  Dr.  Parker  to  her  counsels. 
He  might  fairly  be  considered  as  the  leader  and  repre- 
sentative of  the  English  Eeformers.  Like  the  queen  and 
Cecil,  his  desire  was  to  conciliate  the  Eomanizers,  and 
thence  to  proceed  in  a  course  of  gradual  reform.  Eepelled 
by  the  Eomanizing  party,  they  soon  found  that  it  would  be 
necessary  to  conciliate  the  Protestants,  and  to  save  from 
their  extravagance  as  much  as  they  could  of  Catholic  truth. 
Parker  Almost  immediately  after  the  nomination  of  Bacon  as 

to  London.  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  and  before  he  was  sworn  into 
office,  Parker  received  from  him  a  kind  and  friendly  letter. 
Parker  wTas  invited  to  London  in  the  first  instance,  to 
confer  with  his  friends  upon  his  private  affairs.  Bacon 
offered  to  receive  him  as  a  visitor  at  Burgany  House,  his 
town  residence.* 

If  Parker  could  not  make  it  convenient  to  undertake 
a  journey  to  the  metropolis  before  Bacon  left  town, 
Cecil,  now  become  Bacon's  brother-in-law,  offered  to 
receive  him  as  a  guest.  Parker  was  obliged  to  decline 
the  invitation,  as  he  was  at  that  time  suffering  from  the 

*  Burgany,  or  Burgavenny,  House  had  been  the  residence  of  the 
Earls  of  Abergavenny,  at  the  north  end  of  "  Ave  Mary  Lane."  Stow's 
Survey,  p.  127.  It  was  probably  hired  by  Sir  Nicolas  Bacon,  who  after- 
wards purchased  and  rebuilt  Shelley  House  in  Noble  Street,  Aldersgate, 
thenceforth  called  Bacon  House. 


I 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  155 

ague.  He  states  that  he  had  signified  through  his  friend,  chap. 
Sir  John  Cheke,  who  had  made  known  to  him  Cecil's  .  VITIXL 
desire  to  serve  him,  that  he  desired  no  high  preferment,  parktr* 
"I  would  be  inwardly  heavy  and  sorry,"  he  writes,  "  that  1559-75 
Sir  William  Cecil's  favourable  affection  should  procure 
me  anything  above  the  reach  of  mine  ability,  whereby  I 
should  both  dishonest  myself,  and  disappoint  the  expecta- 
tion of  such  as  may  think  that  in  me  which  I  know  is 
not ;  but  specially  I  might  clog  and  cumber  my  conscience 
to  God- ward,  before  whom  I  look  every  day  to  appear  to 
make  mine  answer,  which  I  think,  and,  as  I  trust,  is  not 
far  off.  Notwithstanding,  though  I  would  most  fain  wear 
out  the  rest  of  my  life  in  private  state,  yet  concerning 
that  very  small  talent  credited  unto  me,  I  would  not  so 
unthankfully  to  God  ensue  my  quiet,  that  I  could  not  be 
content  to  bestow  it,  so  it  were  there  whither  my  heart 
and  conscience  afore  this  time,  and  daily  yet  doth  incline 
me."*  He  goes  on  to  state,  that  he  wishes  for  nothing 
more  than  the  revenue  of  some  prebend,  so  that  he 
might  occupy  himself  in  preaching  the  gospel  in  poor 
and  destitute  parishes  ;  for  this,  he  thought,  was  better 
suited  for  his  decayed  voice  and  small  quality,  than  in 
theatrical  and  great  audience.  Of  all  places  in  England 
he  would  prefer  to  live  in  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
where  much  reformation  was  wanted.  "  To  tell  you  my 
heart,"  he  continues,  "  I  had  rather  have  such  a  thing  as 
Bene't  College  is  in  Cambridge,  a  living  of  twenty  nobles 
by  the  year  at  the  most,  than  to  dwell  in  the  deanery  of 
Lincoln,  which  is  two  hundred  at  the  least."  He  especially 
deprecated  any  public  appointment.  There  is  a  reference 
in  the  letter  to  certain  exhibitions  at  Cambridge,  main- 

*  See  Parker's  Corresp.  p.  50.  The  letter  is  without  date,  but  the 
editors  of  the  volume  place  it  between  the  9th  and  the  20th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1558. 


156  LIVES   OF  Till-: 

chap,    tained  by  the  generosity  of  Bacon,  which   leads  us 
— r-^—  suppose  that  Parker  had  already  returned  to  the  Uni- 
Parker.    versity  he  so  dearly  loved.     He  was  certainly  there  ii 
ioo9-75.   March,   when   he  was   actively  employed  in   procuring 
Cecil's  election  to  the  office  of  chancellor. 

Having  neglected  the  invitations  he  received  from  Bacon 
and  Cecil,  under  the  impression  that  they  wished  to  force 
some  public  employment  upon  him,  he  received  a  short 
and  peremptory  note  from  Cecil,  conveying  a  royal  com- 
mand that  he  should,  "  upon  the  sight  hereof,  put  himself 
in  order  to  make  his  indelayed  repair  unto  London,  when 
he  would  declare  her  majesty's  further  pleasure." 

It  appears  that,  probably  on  the  ground  of  his  ill  health, 
he  neglected  to  obey  the  summons ;  for,  on  the  4th  of 
January,  he  received  another  letter  from  Bacon,  who 
supposes  that  Cecil's  letter  had  miscarried,  and  warning 
him  that  he  must  immediately  commence  his  journey  to 
London  if  his  health  permitted.  *  As  we  have  no  letters 
from  Parker  in  his  Correspondence  between  the  4th  of 
January  and  the  1st  of  March,  we  may  presume  that  he 
acted  in  obedience  to  the  royal  command,  and  repaired 
to  London.  He  was  certainly  soon  after  in  frequent 
conference  with  the  ministers,  and  became  a  leading  per- 
sonage in  those  councils  of  state  which  Cecil  now  in  the 
queen's  name  convened.  The  state  of  his  health,  how- 
ever, continued  so  infirm,  that  he  was  under  the  necessity 
of  occasionally  seeking,  for  two  or  three  days,  a  little 
country  air.  We  have  already  stated  the  condition  of 
public  affairs ;  and  it  became  every  day  more  apparent, 
that,  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  Cecil  and  Parker,  they 
would  have  to  make  terms,  not  with  the  Eomanizing 
party,  but  with  the  exiles.  Although  the  persons  forming 
the  party  are  described  by  the  learned  editor  of  Fuller, 

*  Corresp.  p.  53. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  157 

as  "new   men  of  the  very  lowest  principles,  and  most    chap. 
doubtful  orthodoxy,"  yet  there  were   many  exceptions, 


and  among  the  exiles  a  party  had  arisen  which,  through  p^T 
evil  report  and  good  report,  had  adhered  to  the  principles  1559-75. 
of  the  English  Eeformation.  For  an  account  of  the 
fierce  controversies  which  prevailed  among  the  English, 
who  fled  from  the  persecutions  of  Mary,  the  reader  must 
be  referred  to  the  general  historian.  Nevertheless,  it  is 
necessary  briefly  to  touch  upon  the  subject. 

When  the  English  refugees  applied  for  protection  to 
the  Protestants  strictly  so  called,  that  is,  to  the  Lutherans, 
they  were  treated  as  worse  than  Papists,  and  the  Papists, 
bad  as  they  were,  had  certainly  no  monopoly  of  persecu- 
tion. In  vain  did  the  English  refer  to  their  sufferings ; 
it  was  retorted  that,  even  by  heretics,  persecution  could 
be  endured.  In  vain,  so  far  as  the  continental  Protes- 
tants were  concerned,  did  they  discard  the  dogma  of 
transubstaatiation  if  consubstantiation  was  rejected.  In 
vain  did  they  reject  the  supremacy  of  the  Bishop  of 
Eome,  unless  they  allowed  Martin  Luther  to  usurp  his 
place.  These  were  severe  measures  ;  and  the  more  severe 
because  it  was  of  Lutheranizing  that  the  English  reformers 
were  accused  at  home.  But  the  Germans  declared  the 
English  martyrs  under  Mary  to  be  the  devil's  martyrs, 
not  the  martyrs  of  God.  In  vain  did  the  gentle  Melanc- 
thon  plead  in  their  behalf.  They  were  told  that  the 
Protestant  or  Lutheran  religion  and  the  religion  of  the 
Church  of  England  were  two  distinct  and  different  things  ; 
a  fact,  the  forgetfulness  of  which  has,  for  three  centuries, 
involved  us  in  difficulties  and  endless  controversy.* 

*  Vociferantur  quidam  Martyres  Anglicos  esse  Martyres  Diaboli. 
See  Melancthon,  ep.  i.  2.  Melancthon  makes  an  exception  in  favour  of 
Latimer  and  a  few  others  whom  he  had  known.  On  the  Continent,  the 
Lutherans  for  a  long  time  assumed  exclusively  the  title  of  Protestants. 
The  Calvinists,when  not  called  by  the  name  of  their  founder,  took  the  title 


158       .  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap.         Under  these  circumstances,  the  refugees  were  thrown 
viii.     .  . 

*■ — r— ^-  into  the  arms  of  the  Calvinists,  and  soon  became  more  or 

Parker,  less  under  the  influence  of  the  illustrious  founder  of  that 
1559-75.  sect.  Even  of  those  who,  with  justifiable  national  preju- 
dice, upheld  in  foreign  parts  the  cause  of  the  formularies 
of  the  Church  of  England,  too  many  returned  with  a 
desire  to  approach  Calvinism  as  nearly  as  they  consis- 
tently could.  These  had,  many  of  them,  made  a  manful 
stand  in  favour  of  the  Prayer  Book  at  Frankfort.  It 
was  through  them  that  the  Anglo-Catholic  party,  under 
Parker  and  Cecil,  opened  communications  with  the  re- 
turned exiles  ;  but,  for  reasons  just  assigned,  they  did  not 
receive  that  cordiality  of  support  which  they  had  a  right  to 
expect.  Even  these  mediating  parties  were  in  frequent 
correspondence  with  the  leading  Calvinists  abroad ;  and 
some  of  them  received  the  dishonest  advice,  that  they 
should  conform  to  the  Church,  in  order  that  they  might 
obtain  the  power  and  the  means  of  subverting  those  prin- 
ciples which  the  English  reformers  desired  to  maintain ; 
and,  for  the  maintenance  of  which,  whatever  their  previous 
vacillations  may  have  been,  Eidley,  Latimer,  and  even 
Cranmer,  declared  that  they  laid  down  their  lives.* 
Liturgical  When  Parker  came  to  town,  he  found  that  the  queen 
Keform.  an(^  Cecil  had  determined  to  retain  the  first  book  of 
Edward  VI.  as  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  for  the  English 
Church.     Although  published  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VL, 

of  "  the  reformed."  From  the  want  of  a  strict  nomenclature  on  this  point 
endless  confusion  has  been  introduced  into  the  ecclesiastical  history  of 
England.  It  is  easier  to  adopt  terms  than  to  change  them.  I  shall  in 
this  biography  apply  the  term  Protestant  to  the  Anglo-Catholics,  that 
of  Puritan  to  the  Calvinists,  and  that  of  Papist  to  the  emissaries  of 
Rome. 

*  Even  Peler  Martyr,  in  his  letters  to  Jewel,  recommended  that 
scrupulous  divines  should  wear  the  vestments,  and  yet  never  cease  to 
preach  against  them. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  159 

it  had  been  prepared  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  It  might  chap. 
admit  of  some  alterations,  but  those  alterations  would  .  vnL  . 
have  been  made  with  a  view  of  reclaiming  some  Catholic  ^^7 
observances  which  had  been  overlooked ;  but  Parker  was  1559-75. 
soon  convinced  that  he  must  so  far  yield  to  the  exiles,  as 
to  permit  them  to  make  the  second  book  of  Edward  the 
basis  of  his  liturgical  reforms.  If  Parker  was  disappointed 
with  respect  to  those,  among  the  returned  exiles,  who 
still  professed  to  uphold  the  principles  of  the  English 
Eeformers,  he  was  equally  disappointed  by  finding  the 
Eomanizing  party  mustering  its  forces  to  reject  every 
attempt  at  reformation.  The  tangible  difficulty  at  this 
time  was  the  hostile  front  presented  by  the  Convocation. 
The  attention  of  the  government  had  been  exclusively 
directed  to  the  parliamentary  elections.  When  we  say 
that  they  sought  to  pack  the  House  of  Commons,  we  do 
not  intend  to  convey  a  censure  so  severe  as  that,  to 
which  such  a  course  would  in  these  days  be  obnoxious. 
As  in  the  election  of  a  bishop,  freedom  of  choice  is  legally 
conceded  to  the  electors,  while  the  conge  d'elire  is  ac- 
companied by  a  letter  missive,  naming  the  person  in 
favour  of  whom  the  choice  is  to  be  exercised,  so  was  it 
customary  in  those  days,  for  the  court,  at  a  general  elec- 
tion of  members  of  parliament,  to  nominate  five  candi- 
dates for  each  shire,  and  three  for  each  borough,  out  of 
whom  the  election  was  to  be  made.  In  either  case  it  was 
an  act  of  despotism ;  but,  until  the  passions  of  the  mul- 
titude are  inflamed  by  demagogues,  it  is  astonishing  to 
see  how  passively  to  customary  acts  of  despotism  the 
multitude  will  yield.  The  feeling  was  that,  in  electing  a 
parliament,  they  were  electing  a  great  council  to  advise 
the  crown,  and  the  object  was  to  select  everywhere  the 
wisest  men.  This  system  answered  well,  until  it  was  dis- 
covered that  Parliament  might  be  the  means  of  gratifying 


ICO  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,    private  ambition  ;  and  that  those  who  denounced  a  poor 

»-  »  r*    elector  for  taking  bribes,  might  promote  the  interests  of 

Parte,   himself  and  family  by  devoting  himself  to  the  service  of 

1559-75.  a  party  which,  if  bitter  against  opponents,   has  always 

known  how  to  reward  its  supporters. 

What  had  been  done  with  respect  to  Parliament,  might 
have  been  done  with  respect  to  Convocation.  But  it  will 
be  remembered  that  the  religious  question  was  not  the 
first  which  occupied  the  minds  of  Elizabeth's  councillors. 
They  thought,  moreover,  that  the  majority  of  the  clergy, 
caring  little  for  doctrinal  questions,  would  sanction  any 
reforms  which  did  not  interfere  with  the  rights  of  pro- 
perty. In  the  absence  of  government  interference,  the 
archdeacons  and  officials  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  whose 
interest  it  was  to  retard  the  Eeformation,  bestirred 
themselves.  Parker  soon  perceived  that  little  could  be 
done  with  the  then  existing  convocation,  and  that,  before 
the  dissolution  of  Parliament,  a  new  convocation  could 
not  be  called.  It  was  a  sad  oversight,  and  rendered 
necessary  a  recourse  to  an  appeal  to  the  prerogative,  as 
well  as  to  measures  such  as  Parker  would  not  otherwise 
have  recommended. 

Two  parties,  it  was  represented  to  the  queen,  stood 
prepared,  neither  to  be  conciliated,  and  both  to  intimidate 
the  youthful  sovereign.    Little  did  those  parties  know  the 
master   mind   and   the   stern  will   to  which  they  stood 
opposed.    Elizabeth  was  determined,  by  the  aid  of  Parlia- 
ment and  the  exertion  of  her  prerogative,  which  was  at 
that  time  very  high,  to  bring  the  one  party  down  and 
to  raise  the  other  party  up  to  her  own  level. 
Appoint-         She  directed  Cecil  to  appoint  a  committee  to  prepare 
commas-     measures,  to  be  submitted  to  the  Parliament  about  to  be 
sionf?r  .    assembled.     This   committee  was  to  consist   of  persons 

eccJesiasti-  1 

cai  reform,  who     represented    the    English    reformation    and    the 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  161 

)pinions  of  the  queen  herself;  that  is  to  say,  of  men  de-     chap. 
termined  to  preserve  the  old  Catholic  Church  of  England ;  ^ -VJtII_^ 
not  to  deviate  from  its  hereditary  customs  in  ceremony   "parkeT 
or  in  vestments,  except  when  such  deviations  were  neces-    1559-75. 
sary  to  support  the  primitive  truth  against  medieval  error ; 
to   venerate  antiquity,   while   avoiding    superstition ;  to 
secure  the  apostolical  succession ;  and  to  insist  on  nothing 
de  fide  except  what  could  be  proved  from  Scripture  as 
interpreted  by  patristic  tradition.     Here  was  a  platform 
on  which  latitude  was  allowed  to  all  parties  whose  desire 
it  was,  notwithstanding  minor  differences  of  opinion,  to 
unite  and  co-operate. 

The  leading  advocates  of  these  principles,  in  addition 
to  Cecil  and  the  queen,  were  Dr.  Parker,  late  Dean  of 
Lincoln ;  Dr.  Bill,  late  Master  of  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge, and  almoner  to  the  queen ;  Dr.  May,  late  Dean  of 
St.  Paul's  ;  and  Bernard  Gilpin,  the  Apostle  of  the  North. 
The  government  nominated  the  chairman,  Sir  Thomas 
Smith,  though  the  duties  which  devolved  upon  him  cor- 
responded with  those  which  are  generally,  in  the  present 
day,  assigned  to  the  secretary  of  a  royal  commission.  He 
was  to  prepare  the  business,  to  arrange  the  details,  to 
report  proceedings,  to  secure  requisite  information  on  all 
topics  suggested  for  discussion.  The  commission  met  at 
his  house  in  Canon  Lane,  where  every  necessary  of  life 
was  provided  for  the  members  of  the  commission.  In 
his  office  of  chairman  or  secretary,  Sir  Thomas  Smith 
added  weight  to  the  authority  of  the  commissioners 
already  named ;  for  he  was  regarded  as  the  queen's  re- 
presentative. To  invite  the  bishops  to  become  members 
of  the  commission  was  evidently  useless,  because,  though 
they  showed  no  violent  opposition  to  the  government, 
they  evidently  expected,  by  withholding  their  support, 

VOL.  IX.  M 


162  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,  to  compel  the  queen  to  defer  to  their  opinions  and 
« r^—  accede  to  their  terms.     They  thought  to  rule  her  ma- 

Parker,  jesty,  and  her  majesty  intended  to  be  ruled  by  neither 
1669-75.  the  one  party  nor  the  other.  Equally  useless  it  was  to 
call  in  the  aid  of  the  ultra-Protestants,  for  they  ignored 
all  that  had  hitherto  been  done,  and  desired  that 
the  Eeformation  should  begin  de  novo,  on  principles 
in  direct  opposition  to  those  of  the  queen  and  of  the 
English  reformers.  They  were  most  of  them  devoted 
to  Calvin,  by  whom  the  English  Church  and  its  refor- 
mation had  already  been  coarsely  denounced  ;  and  of 
Calvin,  the  queen  had  a  just  and  increasing  abhorrence. 
But  the  Puritans  could  not  be  entirely  passed  over,  for 
among  them  were  some  of  the  most  devout  and  learned 
men  of  the  age;  and  others  there  were,  who,  though 
under  the  influence  of  foreign  Protestants,  were  open  to 
conviction.  The  persons  last  mentioned  gave  in  their 
adhesion  to  the  second  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI., 
although  it  unequivocally  asserted  the  doctrine  of  bap- 
tismal regeneration  ;  and,  as  the  English  reformers  were 
accustomed  to  maintain,  the  Eeal,  as  distinguishable  from 
the  Corporeal,  Presence  of  our  Lord  in  the  Sacrament 
of  his  Body  and  Blood.  Among  these  we  may  mention 
Whitehead,  Grindal,  and  Pilkington,  who,  for  the  most 
part  orthodox  themselves,  were  frequently  led  into  incon- 
sistencies from  their  desire  to  obtain  concessions  for  the 
extreme  Puritans ;  they  sometimes  succeeded  to  the  de- 
triment of  the  Church.  Their  acceptance,  however,  of  a 
place  in  the  commission,  so  far  strengthened  the  hands 
of  the  government,  that  it  showed  the  bishops,  who 
headed  the  opposition,  that  if  they  continued  to  withhold 
their  support,  the  government  had  the  means  to  defy 
them ;  and  the  Puritans,  if  not  satisfied,  were  at  least  for 
the  time  pacified. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  163 

The  commission  met.*     Parker  and  Cecil,  supported    chap. 
by  the  queen,  determined  to  concede   as   little  as  was  -  VIIL_ 
possible,  and  to  retain  of  the  ancient  ritual  as  much  as   ^rkeT 
they   were    able.     The   discussions    were  amicable,  and    1559  75. 
Parker  was  the  personal  friend  of  every  member  of  the 
board.    Unfortunately,  however,  for  the  Church,  Parker's 
ill  health  continued,  and  from  the  meetings  of  the  com- 
mission he   was    frequently  obliged   to   absent  himself. 
When  he  found  this  to  be  the  case,  he  permitted  Dr. 
Gheast  f  to  be  added  to  the  commission. 

Edmund  Gheast  had  not  been  one  of  the  exiles,  and 
he  upheld  the  English  reformation.  He  was  regarded 
as  representing  Parker's  opinions  ;  but  he  was  frequently 
open  to  the  charge  of  vacillation.  Such  was  his  dread  of 
giving  offence,  that  he  was  found  sometimes  to  yield  to 
the  Puritans,  and  even  to  adopt  their  sentiments,  when, 
if  Parker  had  been  present,  their  proposals  would  have 
been  resisted. 

Everything  in  which  Cecil  was  concerned  was  con- 
ducted methodically,  and  a  plan  of  the  proceedings 
had  been  prepared  by  him,  after  consultation  with 
Parker,  which  was  called  a  Device.  It  is  a  document  Cecil's 
of  considerable  length,  in  which  the  necessity  of  making 
some  alterations  in  Church  affairs  is  asserted,  the  dangers 
attending  such  alterations  being  admitted,  and  the  best 
mode  of  meeting  the  difficulty  being  suggested.     Imme- 


*  See  Strype's  Life  of  Smith,  p.  56.  Nares's  Burghley,  ii.  41,42. 
Strype's  Annals,  I.  i.  1.     Heylin,  ii.  273. 

f  See  Life  of  Bishop  Geste  by  Henry  Geast  Dugdale.  The  name  is 
differently  spelt.  Stubbs  gives  the  name  Gheast,  taking  it  from  the 
registers.  I  give  it  as  I  find  it  in  the  Eegistrum  of  Professor  Stubbs, 
in  accordance  with  a  rule  formerly  laid  down.  Stubbs  may  not  always 
be  right ;  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  prove  him  to  be  wrong. 

m  2 


1G4  LIVES    OP   THE 

chap,     diate    action   was   declared   to   be   necessary,    in    order 

VIII.  . 

- — — -  that   the  policy  of  the  pope  might    be  anticipated  and 

Matthew       ..  i       -       .  if         i       «.' ,  -« 

Parker,  frustrated. ;  tor  it  was  expected  that  the  Bishop  of  Eome, 
1559-75.  as  ne  was  designated,  might  excommunicate  Elizabeth, 
and,  on  her  excommunication,  invite  the  continental 
powers  in  league  with  Eome  for  the  invasion  of  Eng- 
land. Among  men  of  the  "  Papist  sect,"  the  pope  might 
find  supporters  in  England,  if  precautions  were  not 
taken  in  good  time  to  coerce  or  restrain  them.  It  was 
remarked,  however,  that  it  was  not  from  this  quarter 
only  that  danger  was  to  be  apprehended;  there  were 
others  who  would  abet  "  an  alteration  from  the  Church 
of  Eome — who  would,  when  they  saw  many  of  the  old 
ceremonies  retained,  and  those  doctrines — the  doctrines 
of  the  foreign  reformation,  which  they  had  embraced — 
not  only  not  allowed,  but  abolished  and  disproved, 
would  be  discontented,  and  would  call  the  alteration 
a  clokecl  papistry,  or  a  mingle-mangle."  It  is  impor- 
tant to  observe,  that  the  English  reformers  foresaw  their 
difficulties  on  either  side,  and  knew  what  they  were  about. 
In  the  solution  of  the  difficulty  last  named,  the  whole 
policy  of  Parker  and  Cecil  is  foreshadowed.  "It  is,"  says 
the  Device,  "  better  that  they — the  ultra-Protestants  or 
Puritans — should  suffer,  than  that  her  highness,  or  the 
commonwealth,  should  shake  or  be  in  danger." 
The  via  media  is  clearly  laid  down. 
Bill  of  In  preparing  a  Bill  for  the  ensuing  Parliament,  the 

mity.0*"  real  position  of  the  queen  was  a  point  first  to  be  decided. 
The  title  of  Head  of  the  Church,  which  Henry  VIII.  had 
assumed,  gave  as  much  offence  to  the  Papists  and  the 
Puritans  as  to  the  English  reformers.  By  ignorance  or 
malignity  it  is  still  applied  by  Erastians  to  the  reigning 
sovereign ;  but  the  title  was  repudiated  by  the  wisdom 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  165 

or  the  piety  of  Queen  Elizabeth.*     But,  in  rejecting  this    chap. 
profane  title,  Elizabeth  had  no  intention  to  resign  those  . — i^-. 
powers  with  which,  even  in  spiritual  affairs,  the  consti-     p^LT 
tution  in  Church  and  State  had  invested  the  sovereign.    1559-75. 
It  was  declared,  "  that  we  give  not  to  our  princes  the 
ministry,  either  of  God's  word  or  sacraments  .  .  .  but 
only  the  prerogative,  which  seems  to  have  been  given  Royal  su- 
always   to   godly    princes   in   Holy    Scripture    by   God  Preraacy* 
himself;  that  is,    that   they  should   rule  all  states   and 
degrees  committed  to  their  charge  by  God,  whether  they 
be  ecclesiastical  or  temporal,  and  restrain  with  the  civil 
sword  the  stubborn  and  evildoer."  f 

*  In  a  letter  from  Dr.  Sandys  to  Parker,  he  says,  "Mr.  Lever  wisely 
put  such  a  scruple  in  the  queen's  head,  that  she  would  not  take  the  title 
of  supreme  head."  Corresp.  p.  66.  Jewel,  in  writing  to  Peter  Martyr, 
says,  "  The  queen  declines  being  styled  Head  of  the  Church,  at  which  I 
am  certainly  not  much  displeased."  Zurich  Letters,  p.  24.  Again,  in 
writing  to  Bullinger,  Jewel  informs  his  correspondent,  "  The  queen  is 
unwilling  to  be  addressed,  either  by  word  of  mouth  or  in  writing,  as 
the  Head  of  the  Church  of  England.  For  she  seriously  maintains  that 
this  honour  is  due  to  Christ  alone,  and  cannot  belong  to  any  human 
being  soever."     Zurich  Letters,  p.  33. 

■f  This  subject  has  been  fully  discussed  in  the  introductory  chapter 
to  this  book,  where  Mr.  Gladstone's  argument  against  those  who 
apply  the  title  of  Head  of  the  Church  to  the  sovereign,  is  cited  at 
length.  I  add  here  a  quotation  from  the  Regulations  of  the  Discipline 
and  Order  of  the  Church,  published  by  Queen  Elizabeth  immediately 
after  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  Having  noticed  the  mis- 
constructions of  her  claims  to  the  temporal  supremacy,  she  then  proceeds 
to  say,  "  Her  majesty  neither  doth,  nor  ever  will,  challenge  any  other 
authority  than  what  was  challenged  and  lately  used  by  the  noble  kings 
of  iamous  memory,  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI.,  which  is  and  tvas  of 
ancient  time  due  to  the  imperial  crown  of  the  realm  ;  that  is,  under 
God,  to  have  sovereignty  and  rule  over  all  manner  of  persons,  born 
within  these  her  realms  and  dominions,  so  as  no  power  shall  or  ought 
to  have  any  superiority  over  them."  In  the  next  Parliament  this  expla- 
nation of  the  oath  of  supremacy  received  the  sanction  of  the  legislature. 
It  is  generally  called  "Queen  Elizabeth's  admonition."    An  Act,  which 


166 


LIVES    OF   Till-: 


CHAP. 
VIII. 


The  first  point  to  which  the  commission  had  now  to 
*  direct  attention  was  to  the  Bill  of  Uniformity  about  to  be 


Parker,  submitted  to  the  Parliament.  Several  difficulties  here 
1659-75.    presented  themselves  to  the  mind  of  Parker.     To  Jewel, 

Book!r  Sandys,  Horn,  Cox,  Grindal,  and  others,  to  whom  Porker 
looked  for  at  least  a  qualified  support ;  to  the  Earl  of 
Bedford,  and  to  the  queen  herself,  violent  and  intole- 
rant letters  were  written  by  Bullinger,  Peter  Martyr,  and 
Weidner,  denunciatory  of  the  English  reformation,  and 
calling  upon  them  to  resist,  with  all  their  might,  those 
men — the  English  reformers — by  whose  means  the  seeds 
of  popery  were  still  retained  among  us.  The  principles 
of  several  among  the  ecclesiastics  were  thus  shaken  at  a 
time  when  firmness  was  most  required.  The  foreigners 
had  the  sagacity  to  see,  that  many  who  held  doctrinally 
the  Puritan  principles  were  anxious  to  share  in  the 
emoluments  of  the  Church  ;  their  great  fear  was,  lest  to 
carry  this  object  they  should  be  induced  to  concede  too 
much.  While  the  queen  and  her  council  desired  to 
conciliate  the  few  Papists  still  retaining  an  influence  in 
the  country,  the  object  of  the  ultra-Protestants  was  to 
exasperate  them,  and  to  form  two  parties  which,  as  has 
unfortunately  been  the  case,  would  be  in  a  perpetual 
state  of  antagonism,  the  one  against  the  other. 

Liturgical        Parker,  from  his  antiquarian  researches,  was  well  cal- 

reforms. 

was  passed  in  the  fifth  year  of  her  majesty,  directed  that  the  oath  should 
be  taken  and  expounded  in  this  sense.  The  object  of  the  acts  passed  in 
Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  bearing  upon  the  royal  authority,  is  declared 
by  Sir  Edward  Coke  to  have  been  merely  to  restore  to  the  crown  the 
rights  it  had  always  possessed  by  the  common  law  of  the  realm.  See 
Comyn's  Digest,  art.  "  Prerogative."  To  the  same  effect  see  Judge 
Blackstone,  Comment,  iv.  33.  Bracton  indeed,  who  was  made  a  judge 
by  Henry  III.  in  the  thirteenth  century,  when  popery  was  rampant, 
expresses  himself  thus:  Rex  est  vicarius  et  minister  Dei,  tarn  in  sjnritua- 
libus  quam  in  temporalibus.     Lib.  i.  cap.  8. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  167 

dilated  to  take  the  lead  in  what  related  to  liturgical  chap. 
reform.  The  history  of  our  liturgical  offices — applying  .  __VHL_ 
the  terra  liturgy,  not  in  its  strict  sense,  to  the  Communion  p^r 
office,  but  in  that  larger  sense  in  which  the  term  is  ap-  1559-75. 
plicable  to  all  that  is  contained  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer — is  one  of  peculiar  interest.  The  very  foundation 
of  our  Church  was  laid  in  a  liturgical  discussion,  settled 
by  the  largeness  of  mind  exhibited  by  Gregory  the 
Great,  rather  than  by  any  general  controversy  bearing 
upon  theory  instead  of  practice.  The  reader  of  these 
volumes  is  aware,  that  our  Prayer  Book  is  to  be  traced 
for  its  origin,  not  to  Eome,  but  through  the  Gallican 
Church  to  the  Churches  of  Ephesus  and  Smyrna.  When, 
under  Augustine,  the  missionary  prelate,  and  Ethelbert 
the  king,  the  foundations  of  the  Church  of  England  were 
laid,  Augustine  was  astonished  to  find  that  the  sacred 
offices  were  not  administered  in  the  Church  of  Gaul — 
by  the  bishops  of  which  Church  he  was  consecrated — 
under  those  forms  to  which  he  had  been  habituated  when 
he  ministered  as  a  priest  in  Eome.  The  advice  given  to 
him  by  Gregory,  when  Augustine  was  perplexed  how  to 
act,  was  based  on  that  principle  on  which  our  Eeformers 
professed  to  proceed,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  Preface  to 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  u  You,  my  brother,"  wrote 
Gregory  to  the  first  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  "  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  customs  of  the  Eoman  Church  in  which 
you  were  educated  ;  but  I  advise  you,  if  you  have  found 
anything  either  in  the  Eoman,  or  in  the  Gallican,  or  in 
any  other  Church  which  may  be  acceptable  to  Almighty 
God,  that  you  carefully  make  choice  of  the  same,  and 
sedulously  teach  the  Church  of  the  Angles,  who  are  at 
present  new  in  the  faith,  whatsoever  you  gather  from 
the  principal  Churches.  For  things  are  not  to  be  loved 
for  the  sake  of  places,  but  places  for  the  sake  of  good 


1G8 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1659-75. 


things.  Select,  therefore,  those  things  which  are  pious, 
religious,  and  orderly  ;  and  when  you  have  made  these  up 
into  one  book,  instil  this  into  the  minds  of  the  English  for 
their  use."  * 

It  does  not  appear  that  Augustine  collected  the  offices 
of  the  Church  into  one  book  ;  and  we  find  it  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  after  the  age  of  Theodorus,  that  the  Breviary,  f  the 
Missal,  and  the  Manual  were  generally  kept  in  separate 
volumes.  Before  the  application  of  the*  printing-press  to 
the  purposes  of  literature,  errors  were  certain  to  be  in- 
troduced by  the  carelessness  of  transcribers,  or  with  the 
object  of  meeting  the  crotchets  of  various  divines,  who 
then,  as  now,  would  make  the  Church,  if  possible,  con- 
descend to  their  own  extravagant  fancies,  instead  of 
forcing  their  private  opinions  to  bend  to  the  rule  of  the 
Church. 


*  Gregory,  Opera,  ii.  1151.  Ba?da,  i.  xxvii.  The  Eoman  Breviary 
was  not  used  in  France  until  after  the  Revolution ;  nor  was  it  intro- 
duced into  England  until  about  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  when  some  of 
the  Romish  priests,  being  Jesuits,  were  obliged,  in  accordance  with  the 
principles  of  their  sect,  to  use  it.  The  Romish  sect  established  in 
England  by  Cardinal  Wiseman  has,  I  am  informed,  adopted  all  Roman 
forms.  For  an  account  of  our  Prayer  Book,  see  Sir  William  Palmer, 
Archdeacon  Freeman,  Lathbury,  Sparrow,  Hardwick,  Maskell,  Buller, 
Proctor,  and  Cardwell,  compared  with  Bingham,  Collier,  Cosin,  Heylin, 
L'Estranpje,  and  Neal.  These  writers  would  be  the  first  to  express 
their  obligations  to  such  works  as  Goar,  Euchologium  or  Rituale 
Greecorum  ;  Renaudot,  Liturgiarum  Orientalium  Collectio;  Mabillon, 
De  Liturgia  Gallicana  ;  Muratori,  Liturgia  Romana ;  Assemanni,  Codex 
Liturgicus  Ecclesia?  Universas. 

■f  Known  in  the  Church  of  England  as  the  Portiforium,  or,  as  it  was 
translated,  the  Portuis  or  Portess.  Its  origin  may  probably  be  traced 
to  St.  Benedict  in  the  sixth  century.  It  contained  the  daily  services  of 
the  Church,  as  distinct  from  the  Liturgy  properly  so  called.  The 
Missal  contained  the  service  for  the  Holy  Communion,  or  Mass.  The 
Manual  contained  the  offices  for  baptism,  visitation  of  the  sick,  &c. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  169 

"  His  fantasy,  still  working,  CHAP. 

Finds  out  another  crotchet ;  » r  '-* 

Then  runs  he  to  the  bishop,  ^^w 
And  rides  upon  his  rochet."  *  1559-75. 

Of  the  great  work  of  Osmund,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  Use  of 
in  the  twelfth  century,  mention  has  been  made  in  a  1078-99. 
former  volume,  f  His  object  was  to  introduce  uniform- 
ity throughout  the  English  Church.  "  The  Sarum  Use," 
referred  to  in  the  Preface  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  was,  to  a  considerable  extent,  successful.  Al- 
though the  York  Use,  the  Hereford  Use,  and  the  Lincoln 
Use  had  all  and  each  of  them  their  several  advocates  ; 
yet,  even  in  the  dioceses  in  which  these  Uses  were 
adopted  in  the  cathedral,  there  were  many  churches 
which  preferred  and  adhered  to  the  Use  of  Sarum.  If 
any  one  prayer  book  was  to  be  adopted  as  national, 
no  doubt  existed  as  to  which  "Use"  should  be  selected. 
Indeed,  it  will  be  within  the  memory  of  the  reader,  that 
the  first  decided  step  taken  in  the  direction  of  liturgical 
reform  consisted  in  an  attempt  to  enforce  the  adoption, 
throughout  the  Church  of  England,  of  the  "  Sarum  Use." 
So  popular  was  the  Sarum  Use  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
that  it  was  adopted  in  Durham,  in  many  of  the  churches 
of  Scotland,  and  even  in  some  of  the  continental 
churches. 

From  the  fourteenth  century  onwards  there  grew  up 
a  general  desire,  that,  as  Augustine,  our  founder,  had 
caused  the  Greek  offices  to  be  translated  into  Latin, 
when  Latin  was  the  common  language  of  educated  men, 

*  Corbet 

t  It  is  sometimes  said,  that  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  being  precentor 
of  the  province,  Osmund  reformed  the  Liturgy  in  that  character  ;  but,  on 
recurring  to  the  subject,  I  found  it  cannot  be  shown  that  the  Bishops  of 
Sarum  held  the  office  of  precentor  at  so  early  a  period. 


170  LIVES  OF  Tin: 

chap,  so  now,  when  English  had  become  the  only  language 
— , — - *  generally  understood  in  a  country  where  men  were 
Parker,  beginning  to  think  for  themselves,  it  would  be  expedient 
1559-75.  to  translate  the  Latin  offices  into  the  vernacular.  Among 
the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  an  inclination  to  meet  the 
demand  certainly  prevailed.  From  the  year  1390,  when 
I  believe  the  first  English  Primer  made  its  appearance, 
an  English  version  of  certain  portions  of  the  Church 
services  had  from  time  to  time  been  made  and  sanctioned.* 
"Indeed,"  says  Mr.  Maskell,  a  there  never  was  a  period 
in  the  history  of  the  English  Church,  when  care  was  not 
taken  to  enforce  upon  all  priests  the  duty  of  teaching  the 
people  the  rudiments  of  the  faith  in  the  vulgar  tongue, 
and  to  provide  books  fitted  for  that  purpose.  Hence 
it  is,  that  we  have  so  many  short  expositions  in  English 
of  the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Ten  Command- 
ments." 

The  clergy  had  been  fearfully  negligent  of  their  duty  ; 
but,  from  what  has  been  said,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  way 
had  long  been  prepared  for  the  English  reformers.  We 
may  trace  the  first  decided  step  taken  in  favour  of  litur- 
gical reform  to  the  year  1516,  and  to  the  publication, 
under  synodal  authority,  of  a  reformed  edition  of  the 
Salisbury  Breviary.  In  this  edition  the  rubrics  were 
simplified,  and  more  ample  provision  was  made  for  the 
reading  of  Scripture.  So  much  did  this  measure  com- 
mend itself  to  the  judgment  both  of  the  clergy  and  of  the 
laity,  that,  in  the  year  1531,  a  reprint  of  the  new  edition 

*  For  the  history  of  Primers  the  reader  is  referred  to  Mr.  Maskell. 
With  reference  to  the  three  Primers  published  at  Oxford  by  my  learned 
friend  the  late  Dr.  Burton,  Mr.  Maskell  observes,  that  the  preface  drawn 
up  by  that  "  excellent  man,  to  whose  labour  the  Church  is  much 
indebted,  does  not  do  justice  to  his  acknowledged  industry  and 
ability." 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  171 

issued  from  the  press.     This  was  followed  in  1533  by  a     chap. 

bolder  measure,  a  revised  edition  of  the  Salisbury  Missal.  » — ,— - 

'.n  1534,  the  clergy  in  convocation  petitioned  the  king  to     Baker. 

command  a  translation  of  the  Scripture  to  be  made,  and    1559-75. 

to  authorize  its  perusal. 

The  demand  was  partially  met  by  the  publication  of 
the  Primers,  to  which  allusion  has  been  already  made  j 
and  at  length,  in  1540,  the  "  Great  Bible,"  as  it  was  called, 
was  set  up  in  the  churches — an  English  authorized  version 
of  Scripture,  the  basis  of  all  subsequent  translations.  In 
1541  a  further  advance  was  made.  Instead  of  the 
various  Uses  which  had  hitherto  prevailed  in  the  differ- 
ent dioceses  of  the  Church  of  England,  the  Convocation 
directed  that  a  further  revision  should  be  made  of  the 
Sarum  Use ;  and,  when  it  was  finished,  directions  were 
given  for  its  sole  use  throughout  the  province  of  Canter- 
bury. In  1542,  in  the  reign,  be  it  observed,  of  Henry 
VIII.,  and  after  the  passing  of  the  Statute  of  Six  Articles, 
the  bishops,  under  the  king's  command,  were  again  occu- 
pied in  the  work  of  liturgical  reform.  It  was  signified 
to  the  Convocation,  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
Dr.  Cranmer,  that  it  was  the  king's  pleasure  that  all  books, 
Antiphoners  and  Portuises,  should  be  examined,  corrected, 
and  reformed.*  Orders  were  issued  to  the  bishops,  re- 
quiring them  to  direct  the  curate  of  every  parish  church, 
on  every  Sunday  and  holiday  throughout  the  year,  after  the 
Te  Deum  and  Magnificat,  to  read  a  chapter  of  the  New 
Testament  in  English,  and  when  the  New  Testament  had 
been  read  through,  to  begin  the  Old.  For  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  the  litanies  used  in  processions  had  been 
sung  in  English.  These  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
with  the  help  of  other  prelates,  undertook  to  revise ;  and 
they  translated  and  re-arranged  a  litany  almost  identical 

*  Strype's  Memorials,  i.  580. 


172  LIVES    OF    THE 

°vm'  W^T  ^iat  wn*cn  *s  st*^  m  use-*  It  was  published,  by 
"ZT7Z — '  command  of  the  king,  on  the  11th  of  June,  1544.  Soon 
Parker,  after  the  accession  of  Edward  VI.,  the  first  Prayer  Book, 
1559-75.  t0  wnic]a  his  name  was  attached,  was  finished, — a  work  at 
which  the  commissioners  had  laboured  long  and  diligently ; 
and  for  which  the  sanction  of  Convocation  was  obtained 
in  November,  1548.  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  was 
accepted  as  the  "  Use  "  of  all  England.  The  synod  found 
that  the  book  presented  for  their  sanction  contained  all 
the  essential  features  of  the  former  Uses,  avoiding  the 
difficulties  of  which,  in  the  complication  of  the  services, 
the  less  learned  of  the  clergy  complained.  With  the 
dissolution  of  the  monasteries  the  Eegulars  may  be  said 
to  have  ceased  to  have  existence  in  the  English  Church. 
The  Breviary,  therefore,  was  no  longer  required  ;  and  the 
difference  between  the  Breviary  and  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  was  seen  to  consist  in  the  fact,  that  the  Prayer 
Book  was  adapted  to  parochial  rather  than  to  monastic 
purposes.  The  seven  daily  services  observed  in  the 
monasteries  were,  in  the  revised  book,  condensed  into 
matins  and  evensong.  The  lessons  read  in  church  were 
to  be  taken  no  longer  from  questionable  legends,  but 
exclusively  from  the  sure  word  of  Scripture.  Many 
festival  services  were  omitted.  Extravagant  expressions, 
relating  to  the  Virgin  Mary  and  other  saints  were  dis- 
continued, being  regarded  as  interpolations  of  a  date  com- 
paratively modern.  What  was  primitive  was  retained  ; 
what  was  medieval  was  subjected  to  the  test  of  Scripture. 
The  book  was  sent  by  Convocation  to  the  king,  and  by 
the  king  to  Parliament.  The  Parliament  declared  their 
pious  belief  that  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  was  com- 

*  Dr.  Cranmer  at  that  time  retained  addresses  to  the  Virgin  Mary 
and  some  of  the  saints — "  Ora  pro  nobis;"  but  this  error  he  shortly  after 
renounced. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  173 

pleted  by  the  Inspiration  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  and    chap. 
they  readily  passed  the  first  Act  of  Uniformity.     Thus,  » .VI*L-, 
gradually,  was  the  work  of  the  commission  performed;     bS^* 
thus,  cautiously,  was  drawn  up  a  "  Use  "  which,  having    1559-75. 
absorbed  within  itself  what  was  scriptural  and  primitive 
in  preceding  Uses,  has  been  the  solid  basis  of  all  the 
subsequent  proceedings  of  our  Church  in  this  direction. 

In  this  Prayer  Book,  the  queen,  Parker,  and  Cecil 
found  all  that  they  regarded  as  absolutely  necessary. 
What  had  been  accomplished,  had  been  done  by  the 
bishops,  under  the  sanction  of  the  crown  ;  it  had  been 
supported  by  the  Convocation  ;  it  had  been  submitted  to 
Parliament ;  and  it  had  been  adopted  by  the  Lords 
Spiritual  and  the  Lords  Temporal  without  alteration. 
The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  being  included  in  the  Act 
of  Uniformity,  became  a  law  of  the  land.  The  acts  of 
Henry  and  of  Edward  bearing  upon  religion  had  been 
repealed  under  Mary,  by  whom  new  acts  of  Parliament 
had  been  obtained.  These  obnoxious  acts  being  now 
re-enacted,  Elizabeth  was  in  the  position  of  her  brother 
at  the  beginning  of  his  reign :  she  inherited  the  policy  of 
her  father,  and  to  his  wisdom  she  and  her  advisers  were 
always  accustomed  to  look  back  with  respect.  The 
bishops  could  not  consistently  interfere,  because  all  that 
it  was  proposed  to  accomplish  had  already  received  their 
approbation.  Convocation  would  not  have  to  be  con- 
sulted, for  what  was  to  be  restored  had  been  itself  the 
work  of  Convocation.  All  that  was  required  was,  that 
the  obnoxious  acts  of  Mary  should  be  repealed  ;  and  that 
the  work  of  the  bishops  in  a  preceding  convocation  should, 
by  a  new  Act  of  Uniformity,  be  re-adopted  by  the  laity. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  ultra-Protestants,  even  those  who 
were  prepared  to  conform  to  the  second  Prayer  Book  of 
Edward,  raised  a  clamour  against  the  book  of  1549.     The 


174  LIVES   OF  THE 

chap,     country  had  declared  its  belief,  that  the  first  Prayer  Bool 
— , — *  had  been  reformed  under  Divine  Inspiration  ;  there  coul 
Parker,     therefore  be  nothing  wrong  in  its  principles  :  but  altera 
1559-75.    tions  had  nevertheless  been  made,  and  omissions  tolerate 
from  a  desire  not  to  shock  unnecessarily  the  prejudic 
of  certain  parties,  whose  co-operation  was  desired.     I 
preparing  the  first  book,  the  question  had  been  simply, 
What  is  the  truth  ?     Parker  and  the  English  reformers, 
in  revising  that  book,  desired  to  adhere  to  the  principle 
which  had  actuated   their  predecessors.     The   question, 
however,  as  it  was,  unfortunately,  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  second  book,  was,  How  much  can  we,  in  charity, 
concede  to  the  prejudices  of  the  extreme  Protestant  party 
without  absolutely  cutting  ourselves  off  from  the  Catholic 
Church  ?     This  was  still  the  question  with  the  returned 
exiles.      Those   among   them   who   were    Episcopalians 
were  ready  to  conform,  but  on  the  condition  that  fur- 
ther concessions  should  be  made,  if  it  should  be  foun 
expedient  to  make  them. 

Thus  in  the  committee,  two  parties,  though  maintainin 
the  most  friendly  relations  with  each  other,  were  foun 
to  exist.  One  party  was  determined  to  render  our  fo 
mularies  more  Protestant ;  while  the  English  reforme 
foreseeing  that  they  would  be  obliged  to  yield  on  som 
points,  were  resolved  to  concede  as  little  as  possible. 

The  question  was  reduced  to  this,  When  we  apply 
Parliament  for  an  Act  of  Uniformity,  which  Prayer  Boo 
shall  we  introduce  into  the  bill  ?   Cecil  and  Parker  found 
it  necessary  to  yield.     It  was  difficult  to  persuade  some  of 
the  best  and  most  learned  of  their  contemporaries  to  con 
form  to  the  Church  of  England.     The  foreign  Calvinis 
were  eager  to  receive  them,  if  they  again  left  their  nativ 
country.     However  unwilling  the  Puritans  might  be 
leave  their  native  land,  they  had  given  proof  that  the 


! 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY,  175 

would  do  so  if  necessary.     If  they  would  not  come  to     chap. 
terms,  the  government  would  be  thrown  upon  the  tender  ^  V 


i 


mercy  of  the  Papists.  The  country,  though  not  Protes-  p^rT 
tant,  was  anti-Papistical,  and  in  favour  of  a  reformation  ;  1559-75. 
and  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  make  terms  with  those 
among  the  Puritans  who  understood,  that  the  continuity 
of  the  Church  depended  upon  its  episcopacy ;  and  who, 
in  spite  of  the  attempts  made,  with  too  much  success, 
to  pervert  the  exiles,  had  still  some  English  feeling  left. 

It  was  at  length  conceded  that  the  Second  Book  of 
Edward  should  be  adopted.  The  difficulty  was  with  the 
queen.  Elizabeth  wTas  not  accustomed  to  yield  with  a 
good  grace.  She  had  high  notions  of  the  prerogative, 
and  no  slight  opinion  of  her  powers  of  fascination  and 
persuasion.  Parker  probably  succeeded  in  persuading 
the  queen  to  allow  the  Second  Book  of  Edward  to  be 
adopted,  by  admitting,  that  although  in  that  book  there 
were  some  things  to  which  he  and  the  English  reformers 
had  serious  objections,  yet  for  the  sanction  of  some 
alterations  an  appeal  to  the  prerogative  might  be  made, 
if  not  without  observation,  without  causing  offence. 
The  primate  had  to  proceed  with  caution.  Some  of  the 
alterations  received  the  unanimous  approbation  of  the 
commissioners  ;  but  then  arose  the  question,  How  were 
these  alterations  to  be  effected?  If  they  acted  according 
to  precedent,  these  changes  should  be  made  to  appear  as 
suggestions  of  friendly  divines,  appointed  under  the  great 
seal,  to  advise  the  crown  ;  and  the  suggestions  adopted  by 
the  sovereign  ought  to  be  submitted  by  her  to  the  Con- 
vocation. Convocation,  having  debated  the  whole  sub- 
ject, should  authorize  the  alterations,  and  the  sovereign 
send  the  corrected  book  to  Parliament,  that  the  Parlia- 
ment might  enact  what  the  Church  had  enjoined.  But 
the  existing  commission,  not  having  been  appointed  under 


17  G  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,     the  great  seal,   could  only,  in  the  eye  of  the   law,  be 

— . — *  regarded  as  a  committee  of  divines  meeting  privately  to 

Parker,     advise  the  queen's  ministers.     For  reasons  already  men- 

ioo9-75.   tioned,  it  would  have  been  useless  to  offer  the  liturgical 

question  for  discussion  in  the  existing  Convocation,  of 

which  the  upper  house  was  under  the  influence  of  the 

president,  the  Bishop  of  London,  Dr.  Bonner  ;  Archdeacon 

Harpsfield  being  the  prolocutor  of  the  lower  house.     To 

dissolve  the  present  Convocation,  and  to  convene  another, 

would  consume  so  much  time,  even  if  there  were  not 

constitutional  objections  to  the  proceeding,  that  it  would 

have  been  impossible  to   have  a  measure   in   readiness 

for  the  meeting  of  Parliament. 

Cecil  and  Parker  approached  the  subject  as  politicians, 
and  the  queen  reluctantly  acceded  to  the  following  pro- 
posals : — that  the  second  Prayer  Book  should  be  sent  to 
Parliament,  to  be  embodied  in  the  proposed  Bill  of  Uni- 
formity ;  and  that  certain  alterations,  necessary  to  satisfy 
the  queen's  conscience,  and  to  meet  the  views  of  the 
English  reformers,  should  be  made  by  an  exercise  of  the 
royal  prerogative. 

At  the  present  time,  in  a  new  reign,  certain  alterations 
are  made  in  the  Prayer  Book,  in  accordance  with  the 
common  law  of  the  Church  and  the  statute  law  of  the 
realm,  to  adapt  it  to  the  altered  circumstances  of  the 
royal  family.  Between  the  statute  law  and  the  common 
law,  which  invested  the  crown  with  certain  prerogatives  in 
things  spiritual  and  temporal,  of  which  it  has  been  sub- 
sequently deprived,  no  distinction  in  Parker's  time  was 
made.  On  neither  side — neither  on  the  side  of  the  com- 
missioners, nor  on  the  side  of  the  bishops — was  any  objec- 
tion taken  to  this  mode  of  proceeding.  The  second  Prayer 
Book,  which  had  been  reformed  under  the  sanction  of 
Convocation,  was  now  to  be  submitted  to  Parliament ;  and, 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  177 

when  an  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  should  be  appointed,     chap. 
it  was  left  to  him  to  have  these  proceedings  endorsed  .  VIIL  - 
by  Convocation.     Whatever  may  be  thought  of  Parker's    ^AerT 
conduct  on  this  occasion,  anyone  acquainted  with  the  his-    1559-75. 
tory  of  the  times,  must  admit  that  he  evinced  remarkable 
sagacity  and  discretion.     He  laid  it  down  as  a  rule  through 
life,  that  it  was  wisdom  occasionally  to  save  a  principle 
by  sacrificing  a  detail.     Whether  he  yielded  too  much 
or  too  little ;  whether  we  have  lost  by  his  occasional  con- 
cessions,  or  gained   by  his  general  firmness — these  are 
questions   which   every   reader  will   decide  for  himself. 
Parker  was  distinguished,  not  for  his  genius,  but  for  a 
very   large  share  of  common  sense.     In  legislating  for 
the  Church  he  was  called  to  discharge  the  duties  of  a 
statesman  combined  with  those  of  a  divine,  and  was  often 
compelled  by  circumstances  to  consider,  not  what  was 
best,  but  what  wa^s  most  practicable. 

The  alterations  made  were  few  in  number;  To  conciliate  Alter- 

,  .  -.     „  ations  in 

one  party,  an  intolerant  expression  was  expunged  from  the  Prayer 
the  Litany :  "  From  the  tyranny  of  the  Bishop  of  Eome,  ook' 
and  all  his  detestable  enormities,  good  Lord,  deliver  us ;  " 
as  was  also  the  rubric,  in  which  it  was  declared  that  no 
adoration  was  intended  by  the  posture  of  kneeling  in  the 
Holy  Sacrament ;  at  the  same  time,  to  win  favour  with 
the  opposite  party,  it  was  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
Ordinary  to  permit  the  prayers  to  be  offered  in  the  body 
of  the  church  instead  of  the  chancel.  Proper  lessons  for 
Sundays  were  now  fixed,  and  prayers  for  the  queen,  the 
clergy,  and  the  people  were  introduced  from  ancient 
offices.  In  their  desire  to  preserve  the  notion  of  the 
continuity  of  the  Church,  and  to  maintain  external  ap- 
pearances, it  was  determined  to  rescind  the  rubric  of 
1552,  and  to  retain,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  Catholic  vest- 
ments. 

VOL.  IX.  N 


178  LIVES    OF   THE 

chap.  Parker  was  both  surprised  and  pleased  to  see  how  easily 
— r-^—  these  alterations  were  admitted,  when  the  Prayer  Book 
Parked  was  sent  to  parliament.  In  both  houses  they  passed 
1669-75.  unnoticed,  as  being  immaterial,  and  the  book,  notwith- 
standing the  alterations,  was  received  under  the  general 
designation  of  the  Second  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI. 
The  fact  is,  that  by  one  party  a  strong  opposition  was 
raised  to  the  entire  Bill  of  Uniformity,  and  the  re- 
forming party  perceived,  that  if  they  would  secure  the 
Eeformation,  it  was  expedient  to  avoid  a  rupture  among 
themselves.  The  Puritan  party  was  contented,  general! 
with  the  retention  of  the  second  Prayer  Book  ;  the  r 
jection  of  which,  on  the  part  of  the  commissioners  wh 
were  of  the  Puritan  party,  would  have  implied  a  censu 
on  the  reformers  of  King  Edward's  reign,  whom  the; 
claimed  to  represent,  in  opposition  to  the  English  refor- 
mers, who  wished  to  take  their  stand  on  the  reformation 
of  Henry  VIII.  The  English  reformers  were  willing  to 
yield  the  victory  on  this  point  to  their  friendly  opponen 
in  the  commission,  provided  that  they  could  secure  t 
recognition  of  certain  principles,  the  assertion  of  whic 
if  not  of  vital  importance,  was  due  to  their  consistency. 
Pariia-  Before  the  commission  had  completed  its  work,  par- 


ment 


to 


meets.  liament  had  met.  One  of  the  great  difficulties  with  which 
ill'921,  the  queen  had  to  contend,  was  the  exhausted  state  of  the 
finances.  There  were  not  funds  in  the  exchequer  to 
meet  the  current  expenses  of  the  year,  and  the  queen 
had  inherited  a  debt  which  it  was  not  for  the  honour 
of  the  crown  to  repudiate.  The  people  were  justly  of- 
fended by  the  profligate  expenditure  of  King  Henry ;  by 
the  alienation,  to  private  purposes,  of  the  public  treasure 
on  the  part  of  King  Edward's  reformers ;  and  by  the 
alleged  expenditure  of  English  wealth  for  the  furtherance 
of  the  objects  of  Spanish  ambition.  With  these  feelings 
they  were  impatient  of  taxation  ;  while  from  the  clergy, 


iw©«ri 


U'.W 


AKCHBISIIOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  179 

robbed  and  impoverished,  the  large  subsidies  formerly  chap. 
imposed  on  them  could  no  longer  be  extracted.  The  v..VITnL 
monasteries,  which  had  been  as  banks,  and  the  monks,  PaSJer! 
who  had  been  as  brokers,  to  the  English  kings,  no  longer  1559-75. 
existed. 

The  clergy  were  still  unpopular  and  alarmed,  and  it 
was  supposed  that,  for  the  protection  of  their  persons, 
they  would  not  resist  an  attack  upon  their  purses.     The 
first  bill,  offered  to  the  house  on  the  30th  of  January,  had 
for  its  object  the  surrender  to  the  crown  of  the  first-fruits 
and  tenths  of  spiritual  promotions.     These  had  been  ap- 
propriated to  the  use  of  the  sovereign,  by  the  piety,  or 
the  avarice,  of  Henry  VIII. ,  and  their  restoration  to  the 
clergy  by  Queen  Mary  was  attributed  to  superstition. 
An  apology  seemed  necessary  for  what  appeared  to  be 
spoliation,  and  the  government  condescended  to  explain, 
that  an  act,  not   entirely  to  be  justified,  was  rendered 
necessary  by  "  the  huge,  innumerable,   and  inestimable 
charges"  to  which  the  queen  was  exposed.     The  lords 
spiritual  nobly  desired  to  defend  the  indisputable  pro- 
perty of  the  Church  of  England,  but  were  compelled  to 
submit  to  a  majority  of  the  lords  temporal.     The  conduct  Loyalty 
of  the  lords  spiritual  was  at  this  time  deserving  of  more  bishops, 
praise  than  it  has  received  ;  for  although  they  bravely 
opposed  the  crown  when  robbing  the  Church,  they  ten- 
dered their  loyal  support  to  the  second  bill  now  introduced, 
which  had  for  its  object  the  recognition   of  Elizabeth's 
title  to  the  throne,  on  the  grounds  of  common  and  statute 
law.     They  evinced  the  same  loyal   feeling  when   two 
other  bills  were  introduced  against  treasonable  and  sedi- 
tious attacks  upon  the  queen.     The  loyal  conduct  of  the 
bishops,   while  acting  in  opposition  to  the  government, 
was  not  forgotten  by  the  queen.     It  may,  indeed,  be  said, 
that  they  exhibited,  for  the  first  time,  an  instance  of  a 

N   2 


180  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,     constitutional  opposition  in  parliament,  by  which  it  was 
— ^-^  shown,  that  liberty  of  speech    is  not  inconsistent  with 
Parker,     clue  deference  to  the  powers  that  be.     It  is  important 
1559-75.    to   notice  this  conduct  on  the  part  of   these  diocesans, 
for  it  clearly  proves  that  their  religion  was  quite  distinct 
from  that  of  the  seminary  priests — to  whom   attention 
will  be  presently  called — who  represented  the  assassin- 
ation of  an  excommunicated  heretic,  though  an  anointed 
sovereign,  as  a  religious  act. 
Act  of  Su-        The  difficulty  in  passing  the  bill  relating  to  the  royal. 

premacy.  ...  , 

1559.  supremacy  was  great.  It  was  opposed  by  the  extremes 
on  both  sides,  both  by  the  Puritans  and  by  the  Papists  ; 
and  it  was  not  until  the  title  of  Head  of  the  Church  was 
repudiated  by  the  queen,  that,  being  opposed  by  the  lords 
spiritual  to  the  last,  it  at  length  obtained  the  consent  of 
the  lords  temporal.  The  act,  professing  to  restore  to  the 
crown  the  ancient  jurisdiction  over  the  estates  of  the 
realm,  whether  spiritual  or  temporal,  declared  that,  what- 
ever rights,  privileges,  or  spiritual  pre-eminences  had  been 
formerly  in  use,  arid  established  by  any  ecclesiastical 
authority  whatever,  for  visiting  the  clergy,  and  correct- 
ing all  kinds  of  error,  heresy,  and  schism,  with  other 
abuses  and  disorders,  should  remain  for  ever  annexed  to 
the  imperial  crown  of  England.  It  was  added,  that  the 
queen  and  her  successors  might  be  empowered  to  give 
their  letters  patent  to  some  particular  persons,  for  the 
due  exercise  of  that  authority  ;  on  this  condition,  how- 
ever, "  that  they  should  not  determine  anything  to  be 
heresy  but  what  had  been  so  defined,  time  out  of  mind, 
either  from  canonical  scripture,  the  four  oecumenical 
councils,  or  some  other,  according  to  the  genuine  sense 
of  holy  writ."  It  was  further  required,  that  ecclesiastical 
persons  and  magistrates,  graduates  in  the  university,  and 
others  holding  office  under  the  crown,  should,  when  re- 


AKCHBISHOPS   OF    CANTERBURY.  181 

quired,  make  oath  to  acknowledge  the  queen  to  be  the     chap. 
supreme  governor  of  her  kingdom  in  all  causes,  as  well  -  AITIL-. 
spiritual  as  civil.     The  act  representing  the  Bishop  of  SI^T 
Eome  as  a  foreign  prince  and  potentate  excluded  him    1559-75. 
and  the  Eoman  courts  from  taking  cognizance  of  any 
cause  within  the  dominions  of  the  queen  ;  and  the  way  was 

•  unfortunately  prepared  for  the  High  Commission  Court. 
The  bill  had  been  drawn  up  by  Cecil  with  Parker's 
aid,  and  with  the  unwilling  consent  of  the  queen.  The 
immense  powers  vested  in  the  crown  seemed  neces- 
sary to  restrain  the  excesses  on  either  extreme,  though, 
being  wrong  in  principle,  the  act  was  afterwards  fearfully 
abused.  Parker,  together  with  the  English  reformers 
under  his  influence,  was  reconciled  to  it,  because  it  gave 
royal  and  parliamentary  weight  to  those  church  prin- 
ciples on  which  they  sought  to  reform  the  Church.  The 
extremes  on  either  side  were  accustomed  to  appeal — the 
one  side  to  Eome,  the  other  to  Geneva :  Parker  and  his 
supporters  could  now  set  these  appeals  at  defiance,  for 
their  authority  was  the  tradition  of  the  primitive  Church 
as  corrected  by  a  reference  to  Holy  Scripture.  The 
Papists  deferred  to  the  authority  of  the  pope  without 
regard  to  Scripture.  The  Puritans  accepted  scriptural 
authority,  but  interpreted  it  according  to  the  opinions  of 
Calvin.  The  English  reformers  equally  deferred  to  Scrip- 
ture, but  employed  Scripture  as  the  means  of  testing  that 
primitive  tradition,  which  had  been  carefully  guarded  and 
handed  down  from  the  first  ages  of  Christianity.  Other 
enactments  of  this  parliament,  as  bearing  upon  the  reli- 
gious questions  of  the  day,  reflect  great  credit  upon. Cecil 
and  Parker.  Provision  was  made  for  the  election,  con- 
firmation, and  consecration  of  the  episcopate  within  the 
realm,  without  any  foreign  interference,  and  for  the 
appointment  of  suffragan  bishops.     The  law  of  marriage 


182  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,  was  regulated  so  as  to  render  dispensations  no  longer 
> — , — >  necessary;  doctors  of  civil  law  were  permitted,  though 
Parker,  married,  to  hold  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  Communion 
1569-75.  in  both  kinds  having  been  restored  to  the  laity,  precau- 
tion was  taken  against  those  blasphemous  remarks  upon 
the  Holy  Sacrament  which  had  been,  to  his  shame,  en- 
couraged by  Crumwell  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  and 
not  repressed  in  the  subsequent  reign  by  Somerset. 
Irreverent  speeches  against  the  Eucharist  were  rendered 
punishable  by  statute  law.  Although  the  royal  supre- 
macy was  asserted,  yet,  as  is  well  observed  by  a  writer 
whose  views  incline  to  Erastianism,*  no  power  was 
claimed  by  any  act  in  this  parliament  on  behalf  of  the 
crown,  beyond  its  inherent  right  to  the  supreme  regula- 
tion of  ecclesiastical  affairs  within  the  limits  of  its 
ordinary  jurisdiction.  The  Act  of  Uniformity  came  into 
force  on  the  festival  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  June  24. 
Spoliation  Parker  was  at  variance  with  the  queen  on  one  point, 
for  he  resisted  the  passing  of  an  unjustifiable  and  op- 
pressive act,  by  virtue  of  which  authority  was  given  to 
her  majesty,  on  the  avoidance  of  any  archbishopric  or 
bishopric,  to  take  into  her  hands  any  of  the  landed  pro- 
perty of  the  see,  recompensing  the  party  robbed  with 
parsonages  impropriate  or  with  tithes.  Against  this  act 
the  diocesans  also  raised  their  voice  in  parliament ;  and 
Parker  and  the  other  bishops  elect,  even  before  their 
consecration,  protested. 

Many  of  the  sees  were  at  this  time  vacant,  and  the 
queen  was  enabled,  through  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
to  fill  her  own  coffers  very  frequently,  and  to  gratify 
her  least  deserving  courtiers  with  the  best  episcopal  lands 
and  revenues  throughout  England.     In  lieu  of  what  was 

*  Soames,  iv.  C41. 


I 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  183 

taken  from  the  bishoprics,  parsonages,  which  had  originally  chap. 
belonged  to  the  monasteries,  were  made  over  to  the  sees  ;  - — <— 
but  many  of  them  were  burdened  with  decayed  chancels  parked 
and  ruinous  houses,  and  with  the  payment  of  various  1559-75. 
pensions.  Archbishop  Parker,  in  conjunction  with  four 
other  bishops,  at  a  subsequent  period,  offered  the  queen 
a  thousand  marks  a  year  during  their  lives,  not  to 
use  the  liberty  granted  under  this  act,  but  to  no  effect ; 
for  she  appointed  a  commission  to  survey  the  property  of 
the  bishops  when  any  bishopric  was  vacant,  to  send  cer- 
tificates into  the  exchequer  of  the  value  of  their  several 
lands  and  revenues,  and  to  advise  as  to  what  she  should 
take  into  her  own  hands,  and  as  to  the  impropriations  and 
tithes  to  be  granted  instead  of  them  to  the  bishops. 
Although  a  compulsory  change  may  be  the  very  highest 
act  of  injustice,  yet  she  chose  to  consider  such  exchanges 
as  no  wrong  or  robbery.  The  estates  of  the  Arch- 
bishopric of  Canterbury  suffered  so  considerably,  that 
Parker  was  frequently  distressed  for  want  of  money,* 
and  sometimes  found  it  difficult  to  maintain  his  establish- 
ment. It  was  by  only  a  small  majority  that  the  bill 
passed  the  Commons  on  the  17th  of  April ;  for  the 
Commons  had  learned  by  experience,  that  although  the 
measure  was  commended  to  their  notice,  as  a  means  of 
diminishing  the  general  taxation  of  the  country,  the  only 
persons  who  would  be  really  benefited  would  be  the  queen 
herself  and  her  courtiers. 

The  speeches  of  those  prelates  who  were  members  of  Speeches 
parliament  when  the  various  bills  for  the  reformation  of  Lords 
the  Church   were   introduced  have  been  preserved  by  Spiritual- 
D'Ewes.     Their    arguments  are  easily   refuted;  but,  in 
saying  this,  we  bring  to  our  criticism  of  their  rhetoric, 

*  Strype's  Annals,  I.  i.  96 ;  Fuller,  iv.  315. 


184 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1569-75. 


rather  than  their  logic,  the  experience  and  wisdom  of 
subsequent  ages ;  during  which  period  arguments  have 
been  duly  weighed,  and  the  stern  realities  of  history 
distinguished  from  ingenious  conjectures  of  the  imagina- 
tion. In  the  sixteenth  century,  theology  was  nearly 
confined  to  professed  divines;  and  the  divines  in  the 
House  of  Lords  being  all  on  one  side,  the  arguments 
and  historical  misstatements  of  the  lords  spiritual  were 
met  by  a  silent  majority. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  Protestants  had  just 
ground  for  complaint ;  and  their  complaints  received  the 
more  ready  attention  from  the  fact,  that  the  conciliation 
of  their  party  had  now  become  the  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment. The  report  went  forth,  that  right  had  been  com- 
pelled to  yield  to  might,  and  that  while  all  the  votes 
were  on  one  side,  the  argument  was  on  the  other.  In 
modern  times  it  may  be  supposed,  that  the  Protestants 
would  have  been  heard  by  counsel  at  the  bar  of  the 
house  ;  but  lawyers  had  ceased  to  be  ecclesiastics,  and, 
as  the  object  of  the  Protestant  leaders  was  not  to  win  a 
cause,  but  to  establish  the  truth,  they  desired  to  commit 
the  discussion  to  men  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  rather 
than  to  skilful  lawyers  simply  employed  to  win  a  cause, 
not  difficult  to  win  when  the  judges  had  arrived  at  a  fore- 
gone conclusion.  According  to  the  opinions  of  the  age, 
there  was  justice  in  this  plea ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  the 
government  could  not  advise  the  queen  to  convert  the 
House  of  Lords  into  an  arena  of  religious  controversy. 
It  was  determined,  therefore,  that  a  theological  debate, 
assuming  the  form  of  a  conference,  should  be  held  in 
Westminster  Hall.  Such  conferences,  or  public  discus- 
sions, are,  in  our  days,  worse  than  useless.  Their  ten- 
dency is  to  add  personal  bit^rness  to  the  acrimony  of 
polemics  ;  but  at  a  time  when  the  press  was  in  its  infancy, 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  185 

when  public  journals  had  scarcely  come  into  notice,*  and    chap. 
when  among  the  people  few  could  read,  the  government  .   VIIL  , 
acted  wisely  in  acceding  to  the  proposal  for  a  public  dis-    pj^T 
cussion  between  the  two  great  parties,  the  Eomanizers    1559-75. 
and  the  ultra-Protestants ;  and  in  so  arranging  the  acces- 
sories of  the  meeting,  as  to  give  it  an  important  and 
national  character. 

It  was  left  to  Archbishop  Heath  to  select  the  divines 
who  were  to  argue  on  his  side  of  the  question,  and  the 
Protestant  disputants  were  chosen  by  Bishop  Scory. 

The  questions  to  be  brought  under  discussion  were  the 
following :  I.  Whether  the  sacraments  ought  to  be  cele- 
brated in  the  vulgar  tongue  ?  II.  Whether  the  Church  has 
authority  to  alter  ceremonies,  provided  all  be  done  to 
edification?  III.  Whether  the  mass  be  a  propitiatory 
sacrifice  ? 

Dr.  Parker  did  not  take  any  prominent  part  in  this 
debate ;  into  a  detailed  account  of  which,  therefore,  I  am 
not  called  upon  to  enter.  There  can  be  little  doubt,  how- 
ever, that  the  conference  met  with  Parker's  approbation ; 
and  probably  it  would  not  have  been  held  if  he  had  not 
advised  it.  But  Parker  was  not  himself  qualified  to  act 
as  a  literary  gladiator.  He  could  supply  arguments  to 
others ;  but  he  was  nervous  :  he  was  conscious  of  that 
want  of  readiness  of  repartee,  so  important  on  such 
occasions ;  and  to  this  we  must  acjd,  that  he  was  still  an 
invalid. 

*  It  is  generally  supposed  that  the  first  printed  newspapers  in 
England  were  published  in  1588,  when  England  was  threatened  with 
an  invasion  by  the  Spanish  Armada,  and  the  government  issued  The 
English  Mercuria,  published  by  authority,  for  the  prevention  of  false 
reports.  But  in  Wright's  History  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her  Times, 
*a  letter,  written  in  1564  by  Cecil,  refers  to  "a  printed  letter  of  truth." 
The  Mercury  of  1588  was,  as  the  editor  remarks,  the  first  adoption  by 
the  government  of  a  practice  already  become  general. 


186  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap.         On  the  31st  of  March,  the  Colloquy  was  held  in  great 

^- — <—*  state  in  Westminster  Hall.     Lord  Keeper  Bacon  preside 

Parker,  with  the  express  understanding  that  he  did  not  take  the 

1559-75.  chair   to   overrule   any   point   in   the    controversy;  but 

minster  merely,  under  a  royal  commission,  to  take  precaution  that 

(on-  due  order  was  preserved.     Soon  after  Bacon's  anpoin 

ierenee.  . 

March  31,  ment,  the  government,  in  order  to  show  with  what  fair 
ness  it  desired  to  act,  associated  with  the  lord  keeper 
the  Archbishop  of  York.  The  proceedings  occasioned 
considerable  excitement.  "  Great,"  says  Bishop  Jewel, 
"  were  the  expectations  of  the  people  ;"  but  due  order  was 
observed.  Certain  regulations  for  the  conduct  of  the 
debate  had  been  drawn  up,  it  is  supposed,  by  Cecil,  and 
to  those  regulations  both  parties  gave  their  assent. 

In  this  Colloquy,  Home,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Win 
Chester,  distinguished  himself,  and  laid  down  with  grea 
clearness  the  principles  upon  which  the  English  refor- 
mation had  proceeded. 

Bishop  «  Forasmuch"  (he  said)  "  as  we  have  for  our  mother  the  true 

Horn  6  b 

speech.  and  Catholic  Church  of  Christ,  which  is  grounded  upon  the 
doctrine  of  the  Apostles  and  prophets,  and  is  of  Christ  the 
head  of  all  things  governed,  we  do  reverence  her  judgment ; 
we  obey  her  authority  as  becometh  children ;  and  we  do 
devoutly  profess,  and  in  all  points  follow,  the  faith  which  is 
contained  in  the  three  creeds ;  that  is  to  say,  of  the  Apostles, 
of  the  Council  of  Nice,  and  of  Athanasius. 

"And  seeing  that  we  never  departed,  neither  from  the 
doctrine  of  Grod,  which  is  contained  in  the  holy  canonical 
Scriptures,  nor  yet  from  the  faith  of  the  true  and  Catholic  Church 
of  Christ,  but  have  preached  truly  the  word  of  Grod,  and  have 
sincerely  ministered  the  sacraments  according  to  the  institution 
of  Christ,  unto  the  which  our  doctrine  and  faith  the  most  part 
also  of  our  adversaries  did  subscribe  not  many  years  past 
(although  now,  as  unnatural,  they  are  revolted  from  the  same), 
we  desire  that  they  render  account  of  their  backsliding,  and 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF    CANTERBURY. 


187 


show  some  cause  wherefore  they  do  not  only  resist  that 
doctrine,  which  they  have  before  professed,  but  also  persecute 
the  same  by  all  the  means  they  can. 

"  We  do  not  doubt  but  through  the  equity  of  the  queen's 
most  excellent  majesty,  we  shall  in  these  disputations  be  en- 
treated more  gently  than  in  years  late  past,  when  we  were 
handled  most  unjustly  and  scantly,  after  the  common  manner 
of  men. 

"  As  for  the  judgment  of  the  whole  controversy,  we  refer 
unto  the  most  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  Catholic  Church  of 
Christ,  whose  judgment  unto  us  ought  to  be  most  sacred. 
Notwithstanding  by  the  Catholic  Church  we  understand,  not 
the  Romish  Church,  whereunto  our  adversaries  attribute  such 
reverence,  but  that  which  St.  Augustine  and  other  fathers 
affirm  ought  to  be  sought  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  is 
governed  and  led  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ." 

With  the  full  concurrence  of  Archbishop  Heath,  if  not 
at  his  suggestion,  it  was  arranged  that  each  side  should 
tender  their  judgments  in  writing,  and  in  the  vulgar 
tongue ;  and  that  the  Eomanizers  were  to  begin  the  dis- 
cussion, and  the  Protestants  to  answer. 

The  first  day's  debate  was  conducted  with  due 
decorum,  but  the  Eomanizing  party  soon  discovered 
their  inferiority  to  the  Protestants,  both  in  learning  and 
in  eloquence.  On  the  second  day,  therefore,  they  re- 
fused to  abide  by  the  orders  that,  with  the  full  concur- 
rence of  the  archbishop,  had  been  previously  agreed 
upon.  They  asserted,  that  the  multitude  was  prejudiced 
against  them  ;  and  they  complained  that  the  lord 
keeper  was  their  avowed  enemy,  forgetting  that  the 
Archbishop  of  York,  their  avowed  friend,  was  the  lord 
keeper's  assessor.  In  vain  did  the  good  Archbishop  of 
York  entreat  them  to  act  reasonably  and  consistently. 
They  refused,  on  the  second  day,  to  be  any  longer 
bound  by  the  terms  that,  on  the  first  day,  had  been  con- 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew- 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


Reference 
to  Scrip- 
ture and 
Catholic 
tradition. 


Conference 
inter- 
rupted. 


188  LIVES    OF    THE 

chap,     sidered  equitable.     One  of  their  number,  indeed,  mon 
> — ■ — •  candid  than  the  rest,  plainly  confessed,  that  if  the  last 
Parker,     word  should  be  with  the  Protestants,  they  would  conclude 
1559-75.   with  the   applause   of  the   assembly ;  as   if  the  public 
applause  of  the  meeting,  instead  of  the  maintenance  oi 
the  truth,  were  their  object — not  verity,  but  party.     The 
Bishops  of  Winchester  and  Lincoln  conducted  themselves 
on    this   occasion   with   so  much  indecorum,   and  even 
violence,  that  the  people,  remembering  the  horrors  of 
the  late  reign,  were  exasperated  against  them  to  such 
an  extent,  that  it   was  found  expedient,  for  their  pro- 
tection, to  place  these  prelates  for  the  remainder  of  the 
week  under  surveillance.*     "  And  so,"  says  the  quaint  old 
historian,    Fuller,  "  in  this  disputation  there  was  more 
noise  than  fruit,  more  passion  than  reason,   and  more 
cavils  than  argument."  f 
Eesuitof         The   result   of  the   conference   was   to   convince   the 
ference."      government,  that  whatever  might  be  the  private  opinion 
of  Archbishop  Heath  and  the  majority  of  his  episcopal 
coadjutors,  they  formed   a  party  which,  under   foreign 
influence,  was  determined  to  carry  on,  a  toute  outra?ice9 
an  opposition  to  Elizabeth's  government,  and  to  the  mea- 
sures devised  for  the  reformation  of  the  Church.     They 
knew  not  the  firmness  of  Elizabeth  and  the  wisdom  of  her 
counsellors,  for  they  had  not  yet  been  tested ;  but  they 
might  have  understood,  that  the  readiness  of  the  govern- 
ment to  make  concessions  to  their  prejudices  was  not 
the  result  of  fear :   it  was   rather  the  dictate  of  a  sound 
policy  and  a  desire  to  conciliate.     The  conduct  of  these 

*  They  were  committed  for  contempt  of  court :  this  is  expressly  stated 
in  the  declaration  of  the  Proceedings  of  Conference  in  the  volume 
entitled  Synodalia,  in  the  Library  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge, 
No.  cxxi.  Art.  21. 

|  Fuller,  iv.  271. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  189 

diocesans,  after  their  deposition,  made  it  manifest  that  the     chap. 

differences  between  them  and  the  English  reformers  were r— - 

not  so  great  as  to  render  a  reconciliation  impossible ;  pLker? 
and  this  is  a  justification  of  the  queen  and  her  advisers,  1559-75. 
Cecil  and  Parker,  when  they  cherished,  if  not  an  expect- 
ation, yet  a  hope,  that  the  two  parties,  by  mutual  conces- 
sions, might  be  induced  to  work  together  for  the  public 
good.  The  hope  was  not  extinguished  in  Elizabeth's 
mind  until  the  consecration  of  Parker  rendered  it  no 
longer  possible  for  the  two  extremes  to  come  to  terms. 

The  condition  of  the  hierarchy  on  the  accession  of 
Elizabeth  was  very  precarious.  The  plague,  which  was 
raging  in  the  last  year  of  Queen  Mary's  reign,  had  caused 
a  remarkable  mortality  among  the  bishops.  Four  had 
died  just  before  her  decease,  and  six  immediately  after ; 
so  that  ten  sees  were  vacant,  and,  among  those  that  re- 
mained, three  were  filled  by  prelates  who  might  be 
regarded  as  intruders.  The  predecessor  of  Dr.  Heath,  Condition 
Archbishop  Holgate,  had  been  illegally  deposed  in  March,  hierarchy. 
1553.  Archbishop  Heath,  therefore,  had  no  ground  of 
complaint  when,  on  his  refusal  to  obey  the  laws  of  the 
realm,  he  was  required  by  those  upon  whom  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  laws  devolved,  to  give  place  to  another 
prelate  duly  nominated  and  elected.  Bishop  Barlow  also, 
who  afterwards  presided  at  the  consecration  of  Parker, 
had  been  compelled  to  resign  the  see  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
of  which  Dr.  Bourne  took  possession.  Other  instances 
might  be  produced  of  appointments  more  or  less  irregu- 
lar, through  the  interference  of  the  government  in  Queen 
Mary's  reign.  This  is  said,  not  with  a  view  of  permitting 
one  party  to  retaliate  upon  another,  but  merely  to  show 
that  the  circumstances  of  the  times  rendered  some  irregu- 
larities, not  in  principle,  but  in  detail,  a  matter  of  necessity. 

In  deposing  certain   diocesans  politically  opposed  to 


190  lives  of  tin: 

chap,     her,  it  will  thus  be  observed,  that  Elizabeth  was  o 
following  the  precedent  which  had  been  established 


Parke*?   her  sister.     They  may  both  have  been  in  error,  but  the 
1559-75.   one  cannot  be  more  censurable  than  the  other  ;  and,  after 
all  has  been  taken  into  consideration,  we  find  it  said  by  Sir 
William  Palmer,  that,  whether  right  or  wrong,  in  every 
nation  the  government  has  assumed  the  power  of  de- 
priving diocesans,  not  of  their  episcopal  orders,  but  oi 
their  temporalities  and  jurisdiction,  when  these  bishops 
have  refused  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  realm. 
Diocesans        The  surviving  diocesans  were  summoned,  soon   after 
before  the   the  dissolution  of  parliament,  on  the  15th  of  May,  to- 
Councii.      gether  with  some  of  the  leading  divines  of  their  party,  to 
appear  before  the  Privy  Council.     Great  formality  was 
observed,  for  the  purpose  of  marking  the  solemnity  of  the 
occasion.    At  the  head  of  the  council  table  sat  the  queen 
herself;  and  ridiculous  as  might  be  the  airs  assumed  by 
Elizabeth  when  she  was  surrounded  only  by  her  cour- 
tiers, yet,  on  great  occasions,  her  dignity  of  demeanour 
and  her  presence  of  mind  were  such  as  to  overawe  the 
persons  who  came  into  her  presence,  or  who  ventured  to 
The  dispute  her  will.     She  called  the  attention  of  the  prelates 

speech^     to  the  Act  of  Supremacy  passed  in  the  late  parliament ; 
Sates ^      an^  sne  Pomted  out  to  them,  that  an  oath  to  observe  the 
act  was    by   that  statute   required   of  all   functionaries 
in  Church  or  State.     To  the  requirements  of  an  act  of 
the  legislature  she  now  called  upon  them  to  yield  obe- 
dience.    She  urged  them,  as  loyal  subjects,  to  comply  ; 
and  she  invited  them  to  co-operate  with  her  in  her  deter- 
mination "  to  abolish  superstition  from  the  worship  of  the 
Church." 
Reply  of         In   the   most   respectful   manner    Archbishop   Heath 
bishop  of    replied,  that,  by  several  diocesans  in  both  provinces,  he  had 
been  commissioned  to  move  her  majesty,  that  she  would 


AKCHBISHOPS     OF    CANTERBURY.  191 

be  pleased  to  recollect  the  zeal  towards  the  holy  see  of    chap. 

St.  Peter  shown  by  the  late  queen  her  sister.     He  pre-   r-^— - 

dieted  that,  unless  the  present  government  would  adhere  parkeT 
to  the  engagements  of  that  princess,  the  kingdom  would  1559-75. 
lie  under  perpetual  ignominy  and  disgrace. 

These  great  dignitaries  of  the  Church  stood  before  a 
young  woman,  surrounded  by  untried  counsellors,  and 
exposed  to  the  threatened  hostility  of  the  great  continen- 
tal powers.  They  stood  before  one  who  could  ill  afford 
to  convert  into  opponents  those  prelates  who  commanded, 
as  it  was  well  known,  the  good  will  of  the  continental 
princes.  But  they  also  stood  before  one  in  whose  nature 
the  fire  of  indignation  was  sure  to  be  inflamed  by  a  threat ; 
who,  although  she  did  not  hesitate  to  give  play  to  her 
passions,  when  she  could  do  so  with  impunity,  could 
nevertheless  command  her  temper  when  its  control  was 
politically  expedient,  or  when  she  had  any  great  pur- 
pose to  accomplish.  They  stood  before  a  master  mind  ; 
and  though  they  had  not  yet  discovered  her  force  of 
character,  this  only  made  their  own  insignificance  the 
more  apparent. 

With  firmness  and  dignity  the  Queen  of  England 
replied : — 

"  As  for  me  and  my  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord.     Eesolved  The 
to  act  like  King  Josiah,  who  gathered  together  the  elders  of  reply  to 
Judah  that,  under  their  advice,  he  might  make  a  covenant  with  the  Arch - 
his  Grod,  I  lately  convened  my  clergy  and  my  parliament.     My  York. 
object  was  to  bind  myself  and  my  people,  not  under  the.Eoman 
see,  but  to  the   Lord  my  God.     My  sister's   power   did  not 
extend  to  contract  the  obligations  which  have  just  been  men- 
tioned.    Our  records  on  this  entry  show,  that  the  papal  juris- 
diction over  this  realm  was  a  usurpation,  and  the  statute  which 
has  just  been  enacted  they  fully  justify.     It  is  by  diving  into 
and  following  the  proceedings,  which  have  come  down  to  me 
from  a  long  line  of  predecessors,  that  I  mean  to  rule  ;  and  I  hope 


192  LIVES  of  tin: 

CHAP,     that  in  this  my  successor  will  follow  my  example.     To  no  power 

VI1L  ^   whatever  is  my  crown  subject,  save  to  that  of  Christ  the  King  of 

^latrhow    kings.     I  shall  therefore  regard  as  enemies,  both  to  God  and 

Parker  . 

'     myself,  all  such  of  my  subjects  as  shall  henceforth  own  any 
foreign  or  usurped  authority  within  my  realm."  * 

The  prelates  were  silent.  The  majority,  if  not  all  of 
them,  had  already,  in  the  reign  of  King  Henry,  subscribed 
to  the  royal  supremacy,  and  some  had  even  written  in 
its  favour  against  the  pope.  An  instinctive  feeling  kept 
them  silent.  In  refusing  to  concede  to  the  queen  that 
obedience  to  her  law,  which  they  had  not  hesitated  to 
render  to  her  father,  they  had  insulted  her  by  implying 
the  comparative  weakness  of  her  government.  If  they 
had  said,  that  their  opinions  had  undergone  a  change,  the 
answer  would  have  been  obvious,  namely,  that,  if  their 
new  principles  were  insisted  on,  their  advice  was  not 
worthy  of  attention.  The  queen  indirectly  challenged 
them;  and  whether  they  should  accept  the  challenge,  or 
in  what  manner  they  could  do  so,  was  to  them  a  most 
perplexing  question.  The  pope  had  denied  the  right  of 
Elizabeth  to  the  crown ;  that  right  was  assumed  through- 
out her  address  by  the  queen,  and,  in  doing  so,  she  only 
claimed  the  rights  she  had  derived  from  her  ancestors. 
If  there  had  been  a  great  man  among  the  prelates,  he 
would  have  risked  an  answer,  though  it  might  have 
placed  his  life  in  peril;  but,  without  consultation  with 
one  another,  the  prelates  were  afraid  to  speak  ;  and  we 
add  that,  as  their  subsequent  conduct  proved,  they  were 
not  all  of  them  hearty  in  the  cause  they  were  made  to 
represent.  They  were  silent,  and  were  bowed  out  of  the 
royal  presence. 

On  their  return  to  their  homes  they  were  met  by 
more  violent  partizans,  by  whom  they  were  urged   to 

*  Strvne's  Annals,  I.  i.  207  ;  Bramhall,  i.  116,  3 17. 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  193 

renew  the  attack,  and  to  make  one  final  appeal  to  the      viii.' 
youthful  sovereign.     A  letter,  the  result  of  a  consulta-  "Matthew 
tion,  was  presented  to  the  queen,  which  was  signed  by    Parker- 
Heath,  Bonner,  Bourne,  Tuberville,  and  Pool.     In  this  Addresst0 
letter  her  majesty  was  entreated   not  to  permit  herself  the  queen. 
to  be  led  astray  by  the  advice  of  evil  counsellors,  from 
the   Catholic  faith,  "planted  within  this  realm  by   the 
motherly  care  of  the  Church  of  Eome."      Once  more 
was  she   exhorted  to  follow  the  example  of  her  sister, 
Queen  Mary,   and   to    consider    the  supremacy  of  the 
Church  of  Eome.     It  was  a  weak  production,  evidently 
composed,  not  with  any  hope  of  convincing  the  queen, 
but  from  a  feeling,  not  to  be  censured,  that  it  was  fitting 
on  their  part  to  address  a  last  exhortation  to  their  young 
sovereign,  before  they  were  compelled  to  retire  from  the 
high  stations  they  had  hitherto  occupied. 

In  the  reply  the  hand  of  Parker  is  legible.  Elizabeth  The 
was  not  ambitious,  like  her  father  and  brother,  of  the  ?epiy.S 
character  of  a  theologian ;  and  she  did  not  think  it 
necessary  that  every  document  published  in  her  name 
should  be  actually  of  her  own  composition.  What  she 
commanded  to  be  written,  she  made  her  own  by  revision. 
The  answer  was  firm  and  decided.  "  Our  realm  and  sub- 
jects," she  wrote,  "  have  been  long  wanderers,  walking 
astray,  whilst  they  were  under  the  tuition  of  Eomish 
pastors  who  advised  them  to  own  a  wolf  for  their  head  in 
lieu  of  a  careful  shepherd  ;  whose  inventions,  heresies,  and 
schisms  be  so  numerous,  that  the  flock  of  Christ  have 
fed  on  poisonous  shrubs  for  want  of  wholesome  pastures. 
And  whereas  you  hit  us  and  our  subjects  in  the  teeth, 
that  the  Eomish  Church  first  planted  the  Catholic  faith 
in  our  realms,  the  records  and  chronicles  of  our  realms 
testify  the  contrary."  She  asserted,  that  "  when  Austin 
came  from  Eome,  this  her  realm  had  bishops  and  priests 

VOL.  IX.  o 


104  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,  therein  as  was  well  known  to  the  wise  and  learned." 
s — ,— -  Descending  to  personalities,  she  showed  how  some  of  the 
Parked  very  prelates  who  were  now  addressing  her,  received  their 
1559-75.  appointments  from  Henry  VIII.  after  he  had  withdrawn 
from  the  supremacy  of  Eome ;  and  she  contended,  there- 
fore, that  on  their  present  principles  they  were  themselves 
schismatical  and  heretical ;  "and  whereas,"  she  continued, 
"  you  would  frighten  us  by  telling  how  emperors,  kings, 
and  princes  have  owned  the  Bishop  of  Home's  authority, 
it  was  contrary  in  the  beginning.  For  our  Saviour  Christ 
paid  his  tribute  unto  Caesar  as  the  chief  superior,  which 
shows  your  Eomish  supremacy  is  usurped."  She  alluded 
to  the  courage  with  which  St.  Athanasius  withstood  the 
heresies  which  had  crept  into  the  Church  of  Eome,  and 
how  he  got  the  victory.  "  Do  ye  not  acknowledge  his 
creed  to  this  day  ?  Dare  any  of  you  say  he  is  a  schismatic  ? 
Surely  ye  are  not  so  audacious?  Therefore,  as  ye  acknow- 
ledge his  creed,  it  shows  he  was  no  schismatic.  If  Atha- 
nasius withstood  Eome  for  her  then  heresies,  then  others 
may  safely  separate  themselves  from  your  Church,  and 
not  be  schismatics.  We  give  you  warning  that,  for  the 
future,  we  hear  no  more  of  this  kind,  lest  you  provoke  us 
to  execute  those  penalties  enacted  for  the  punishing 
of  our  resisters,  which  out  of  our  clemency  we  have 
forborne." 
Prayer  When  the  Act  for  the  Use  of  the  Eevised  Prayer  Book 

received,  came  into  force,  it  became  apparent  that  of  the  religious 
parties  neither  extreme  had  any  influence  worthy  of  being 
taken  into  consideration  with  the  great  body  of  the  clergy 
and  laity  of  the  Church  of  England.  Among  the  leaders 
on  either  side,  among  both  Papists  and  ultra-Protestants, 
there  were  men  of  learning,  of  zeal,  and  of  piety  ;  but 
while  they  waged  controversy  one  with  another,  the  bulk 
of  the  clergy  and  of  the  people  remained  unmoved  ;  and 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  195 

among  them  the  question  was,  not  whether   alterations     chap. 
might  lawfully  be  made,  but  how  they  were  to  be  carried  w^il^ 
out.     Of  9,400  parochial  clergy,  not  more  than  a  hundred    p^jj1®* 
refused  to  conform  to  the  Prayer  Book.     If,  therefore,    1559-75. 
an  historian  were  to  speak  of  the  unanimity  with  which 
the  Prayer  Book  was  received,  his  statement  would  be 
much  nearer   the    truth    than    such    general   statements 
usually  are.     By  the  uncharitable,  who  look  out  for  or 
suspect,  in  the  very  best  actions,  the  predominance  of 
base  motives,    the    clergy    are  represented  as  so   many 
Gallios  caring  for  none  of  these  things.     This  is  a  hard 
sentence  to  be  pronounced  upon  more  than  9,400  men, 
set  apart  for  the  service  of  their  Saviour  and  their  God ; 
and  it  is  scarcely  want  of  charity  to  conjecture,  that  it 
is  from  a  consciousness  of  wrong  motives  in  themselves, 
that  these  accusers  of  the  brethren  venture  to  suggest 
charges  for  which  it  is  impossible,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
that  proof  can  be  adduced.     For  these  suspicions  and  in- 
sinuations the  impartial   historian   must    be  aware  that 
there  can  be  no  necessity ;  for  he  cannot  but  know  that, 
from  the  condition  of  the   Church  at  this  period,  what 
really  took  place  was  precisely  what  might  be  expected 
to  occur.     The  regulars — admitting  individual  exceptions  The       , 
— had  for  a  long  time  been  the  only  clergy  in  England  J"  cl^gy 
who  were,  as  a  body,  adherents  to  the  papacy  or  advo-  catesofthe 
cates  of  the  papal  supremacy.*     As  a  body  the  regular  premacy. 
clergy  had  been,  by  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries, 
destroyed.     Of  the    regulars,    some  were   permitted   to 
expatriate   themselves,    others   obtained   admission    into 

*  In  those  churches  in  which  there  are  monasteries,  the  clergy 
attached  to  the  monasteries  are  called  regulars  ;  the  other  clergy  are 
called  seculars.  Before  the  Reformation  the  number  of  regulars  in  our 
Church  was  great  ;  since  the  Reformation  we  have  only  had  secular 
clergy. 

o  2 


L96 


LIVES    OF    TIIK 


CHAP. 

VIII. 

Matthew 

Parker. 

1559-75. 


aristocratic  families  as  chaplains;  where,  being  many  of 
them  gentlemen  and  men  of  learning,  they  did  essential 
disservice  to  the  cause  of  the  Eeformation  by  sowing  the 
seeds  of  discontent  among  the  nobles  of  the  land.  It  is 
thus  that  we  may  account  for  the  fact,  that,  at  the  very 
time  when  the  people  were  becoming  more  Protestant,  so 
many  of  the  aristocratic  families  were  prepared  to  aid 
the  cause  of  Home.  The  regulars  were  ever  ready  to 
take  the  lead  in  every  insurrectionary  movement ;  and, 
when  the  time  came  for  the  seminary  priests  to  carry  on 
their  iniquitous  warfare  against  the  life  of  the  queen  and 
the  peace  of  the  realm,  it  was  in  these  quarters  that  they 
found  their  allies. 

Among  the  secular  clergy,  on  the  contrary,  the 
monasteries  had  always  been  unpopular ;  and  to  this  cir- 
cumstance, in  part,  may  be  attributed  the  little  resistance 
which  was  offered  to  their  dissolution.  An  attack  upon 
the  reformed  Prayer  Book,  on  the  part  of  the  regulars, 
would  have  been  a  recommendation  of  it  to  the  seculars. 
It  is,  therefore,  to  other  causes  that  we  must  attribute  the 
nonconformity  of  which,  in  the  early  part  of  Parker's 
episcopate,  complaint  was  sometimes  made.  In  the 
towns,  the  opposition  was  generally  factious.  In  the 
provinces,  the  non-observance  of  the  new  rites  was  owing 
to  stupidity  rather  than  to  perverseness.  The  seculars 
were  among  the  least  learned  of  the  clerical  body.  It 
was  difficult  with  them  to  break  off  old  habits,  and  the 
difficulty  sometimes  became  the  greater,  from  their  being 
unable  to  understand  why  an  order  was  given,  or  what 
it  meant.  They  could  obey,  but  they  could  not  always 
enter  into  the  theory  or  principle  which  induced  their 
superiors  to  change  one  form  or  ceremony  for  another. 
The  secular  clergy  were  thus,  in  some  places,  slow  in 
making  those   alterations  in   the  service  of  the   Church 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  197 

which  were  occasioned  by  the  introduction  of  the  Prayer     chap. 
Book  ;  *  but    their  hearts  being  with  the   Beformation,  *_I^L, 
they  gradually  became  more  regular  in  their  conformity  ;     Parked 
and  thus    the    next  generation  became  attached  to  the    1559-75. 
reformed  ceremonial  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed 
from   their   early   years.      Before   the    death   of   Queen 
Elizabeth,  the  tendency  to  Borne  had,  so  far  as  the  bulk 
of  tjie  nation  was  concerned,  disappeared,  and  the  English 
reformers  found  themselves  thwarted  by  assailants  from 
the  opposite  extreme. 

The  time  had  now  arrived  when  it  became  necessary  Apos- 

i  *n      i  Aii  tolical  suc- 

tO  take  measures  to  fill  the  vacant  sees.     And  here  we  cession. 

must  pause  to  remark  on  the  ignorance,  or  the  wilful 
misrepresentation,  which  would  make  it  appear  that  the 
fact  which  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of  the  Church — the 
Apostolical  Succession — was  regarded  as  a  thing  indifferent 
by  the  English  reformers.  If  such  had  been  the  case, 
we  may  fairly  ask,  Why  was  there  so  much  delay  in 
making  appointments  to  the  bishoprics  ?  If  that  conse- 
cration, by  which  the  grace  of  holy  orders  is  handed 
on  from  one  generation  to  another,  was  not  of  vital  im- 
portance, why  did  not  the  queen  at  once,  as  is  still  done 
in  some  parts  of  Germany,  appoint  superintendents 
with  the  episcopal  title?  She  might  have  invested 
them  with  legal  powers  for  the  government  of  certain 
ecclesiastical  districts,  and  she  might  have  placed  them 
under  the  dominion  of  a  minister  of  state,  with  endow- 
ments sufficient  to  enable  him  to  conduct  with  dignity 
the  quasi- spiritual  functions,  which,  by  the  will  of  par- 

*  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that,  until  the  suspension  of  the  Church 
at  the  Great  Rebellion,  various  ceremonies  were  observed,  which  were 
not  resumed  at  the  Restoration ;  and  this  also  accounts  for  the  de- 
ficiencies in  our  rubrics.  It  was  taken  for  granted  that,  when  it  was 
not  otherwise  enjoined,  the  clergy  would  continue  to  do  as  they  had 
done  before. 


108 


LIVES   OF   TIIK 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew 

Parker. 

1559-75. 


liament,  might  devolve  upon  him.     The  answer  we  possess 
is  the  Ordinal  itself,  in  which  it  is  said : — 

"  It  is  evident  unto  all  men  diligently  reading  the  Holy 
Scripture  and  ancient  authors,  that  from  the  Apostles' 
time  there  have  been  these  orders  of  ministers  in  Christ's 
Church  ;  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons.  Which  offices 
were  evermore  had  in  such  reverend  estimation,  that  no 
man  might  presume  to  execute  any  of  them,  except  ne 
were  first  called,  tried,  examined,  and  known  to  have 
such  qualities  as  are  requisite  for  the  same ;  and  also  by 
publick  prayer,  with  imposition  of  hands,  were  approved 
and  admitted  thereunto  by  lawful  authority."  * 


*  Ordinal,  Preface.  This  office  was  drawn  up  in  the  year  1549,  by 
six  archbishops  and  bishops,  and  six  other  divines.  Upon  this  whole 
subject  see  Bilson's  Perpetual  Government  of  Christ's  Church,  especially 
chapters  xii.  and  xiii.  In  this  early  and  learned  work  the  subject  is 
almost  exhausted.  Thomas  Bilson,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  was  born  in 
the  year  1547.  During  a  considerable  portion  of  his  life,  therefore,  he 
was  a  contemporary  of  Archbishop  Parker,  and  was  one  of  the  English 
reformers.  Among  his  contemporaries  few  are  his  equals,  none  his 
superiors,  in  learning  and  eloquence.  The  work  is  well  edited  by  the 
Rev.  Robert  Eden,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  verification  of  the 
numerous  quotations.  See  also  the  works  of  Archbishop  Bramhall,  the 
value  of  which  has  been  much  increased  by  the  learned  notes  and  appen- 
dices of  Mr.  Haddan,  the  editor.  He  has  judiciously  summed  up  the 
result  of  his  labours  in  an  original  volume  on  the  Apostolical  Succession 
of  the  Church  of  England,  written  in  the  spirit  and  with  the  learning 
of  Bilson.  The  work  of  Mr.  Haddan  is  the  more  useful  to  the  student, 
from  the  fact  of  his  being  able  to  meet,  and  in  the  most  satisfactory 
manner  to  refute,  objections  which  have  been  started  since  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  by  those  who  consider  that  no  credentials  are  necessary  to 
justify  a  man  in  assuming  the  office  of  an  ambassador  for  God  most 
high.  The  reader  may  be  referred  to  the  Registrum  Sacrum  of  Pro- 
fessor Stubbs,  of  which  Mr.  Haddan  affirms,  that  it  is  "  the  one  complete 
and  thorough  work  upon  the  subject."  Sir  William  Palmer,  in  his 
treatise  on  the  Church,  states  the  fact  and  the  doctrine  with  his  usual 
conciseness.  All  these  writers  are  of  course  deeply  indebted  to  Courayer, 
whose  Defence  of  Anglican  Orders  is  the  more  valuable  from  the  fact  of 


AKCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  199 

In  composing  the  Ordinal,  which  forms  a  portion  of  the     chap. 
Prayer  Book,  the  reformers  could  not  have  intended  to  >-VI,IL- 
write  nonsense  ;  and  yet  they  would  certainly  have  been     parked 
guilty  of  making  an   assertion  without  meaning,  if,  in    1559  75. 
speaking  of  the  episcopal  office,  they  had  not  employed 
the  title  of  Bishop  in  the  sense  which  has  always  been 
attached  to  it  in  the  Catholic  Church  ;  of  the  doctrines 
of  which  Church  they   professed   to   be  the  exponents. 
The  distinction    to  be   made   between    a   bishop  and  a 
priest,  or  presbyter,  has  always  been,  that  to  the  bishop 
pertains,  and  to  him  exclusively,  the  right  of  ordination 
to   the  Christian  ministry ;  so  that  anyone  who  is  not 
episcopally  ordained,  although  the  laws  of  the  land  may 

his  being  a  foreigner  and  a  Romanist.     In  various  treatises  published 
on  this  subject  by  Chancellor  Harington,  such  a  mass  of  learning  has 
been  brought  to  bear  upon  it,  that  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  his  Collec- 
tanea has  not  been  presented  to  the  reader  in  one  volume.     In  all  that 
bears  upon  Parker's  consecration,  the  work  lately  published  by  Dr.  Lee 
is  of  great  importance.     Every  writer  upon  this  portion  of  ecclesiastical 
history  must  acknowledge  his  obligations  to  Mr.  Bailey,  who,  in  his 
Ordinum  Sacrorum  in  Ecclesid  Anglicana  Defensio,  has  published  the 
various  documents  affecting  the  validity  of  English  orders,  which  have 
hitherto  been  only  approachable  after  numerous  journeys  to  the  me- 
tropolis and  the  two  universities,  with  a  facsimile  of  the    record  of 
Archbishop  Parker's  consecration,  photozincographed  by  permission  of 
his  Grace  the  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  from  the  register  in  the 
archiepiscopal  library  at  Lambeth.      I  must  not  here  omit  the  name  * 
of  my  late   friend  Mr.   Arthur  Perceval,   who  at  my  request   com- 
posed his  treatise  on  the  Apostolical  Succession,  and  completed  it  wifh 
that   logical   precision    for   which    he  was   remarkable.     Among   the 
numerous  works  which  have  appeared  on  this  subject,  I  shall  only 
mention  farther  Mason's  Vindiciae  Ecclesige  Anglicana?,  Bishop  Taylor's 
Episcopacy  Asserted,  Hickes's   Dignity  of  the  Episcopal  Order,  and 
Madox's  Vindication  of  the  Government,  Doctrine,  and  Worship  of  the 
Church  of  England.     But  the  reader  who  would  see  the  whole  doctrine 
stated  with  a  conciseness  only  surpassed  by  its  accuracy  of  statement, 
and  logical  precision,  may  be  referred  to  "  The  Apostolical  Succession  in 
the  Church  of  England,"  by  Professor  Stubbs. 


200  LIVES   OF  THE 

CHAP,     permit  him  to  assume  the  titles,  which  the  Nonconformist 

VIII. 

— r— -  Puritans  of  old  repudiated  and  condemned,  and  of  which 
Parker,  modern  Nonconformists  are  inconsistently  ambitious,  is 
1559-75.  not  a  minister  of  the  Catholic  Church.  In  making  this 
assertion,  it  is  our  business,  not  to  prove  a  doctrine,  but 
simply  to  state,  as  is  now  done,  an  historical  fact.  How 
far  that  fact  may  be  in  accordance  with  scriptural  prin- 
ciples is  another  question,  though  a  question  which  is 
regarded  by  a  Catholic  as  of  easy  solution. 

We  have,  in  the  passage  just  quoted  from  the  Prayer 
Book,  an  exposition  of  the  faith  of  the  English  reformers; 
and  that  this  was  their  faith  may  be  shown  still  further 
by  a  reference  to  the  declaration  made  of  the  functions 
and  divine  institution  of  bishops  in  the  "  Institution  of  a 
Christian  Man  "  and  "  The  Necessary  Doctrine."  Parker 
and  the  English  reformers  believed,  as  the  Catholic 
Church  has  always  believed,  that  as  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  was  sent  by  the  Father,  so  were  the  Apostles  sent 
by  Him.  "  As  my  Father  hath  sent  me,"  saith  our  Lord, 
soon  after  his  resurrection,  "  even  so  send  I  you."  Now 
how  had  the  Father  sent  Him?  He  had  sent  Him  to 
act  as  his  supreme  minister  on  earth  ;  as  such,  to  appoint 
under  Him  subordinate  ministers,  and,  to  do  what  He  then 
did  when  his  work  on  earth  was  done,  to  hand  on  his 
-commission  to  others.  The  Apostles,  in  like  manner, 
were  sent  by  Christ  to  act  as  his  chief  ministers  in  the 
Church,  to  appoint  subordinate  ministers  under  them, 
and  then  to  do  as  He  had  done,  to  hand  on  their  com- 
mission to  others. 

The  Church  then  incorporated  became  a  society 
which  never  dies,  an  immortal  body,  retaining  for  ever 
the  privileges  and  powers  with  which  it  was  originally 
invested  by  its  founder.  Its  one  object  as  a  body,  its 
business  as  an  incorporated  society,  is  to  prepare  the 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  201 

world  for  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord,  by  causing     chap. 
the  Gospel  to  be  preached   to  every  creature    as   God  - — ,— 1> 
provides  the  opportunity.     If  the  Church,  in  any  of  its     p^ker* 
branches,  is  not   making  converts  by  home  and  foreign    1559-75. 
missions,  it  is  not,  in  that  place,  answering  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  instituted. 

Individuals  are  saved  by  Faith  in  the  one  and  only 
Saviour,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  but  the  Church,  or  the 
aggregate  of  believers,  is  a  society  incorporated  to  bear 
a  part  in  that  mysterious  scheme,  devised  in  the  counsels 
of  God,  The  Blessed  Trinity,  which,  though  only  partially 
revealed  to  us  at  present,  is  now  in  progress.  The 
Creator  has  designed  the  human  family  to  answer  some 
unknown  purpose  in  the  government  of  the  universe. 
To  this  divine  scheme,  Satan  and  the  demons  of  darkness 
are  opposed  ;  the  dominion  of  Satan  is  to  be  put  down, 
and  to  be  finally  annihilated  by  the  Messiah.  This  has 
been  partially  done  at  our  Lord's  first  coming,  and  is  to 
be  completed  at  his  second  coming.  For  that  second 
coming,  the  Church  is  to  prepare  the  world.  We  are, 
as  it  were,  on  the  spiritual  battlefield  ;  and  soldiers  are  to 
be  continually  enlisted  to  fight  under  the  banner  of  the 
great  Captain  of  our  salvation.  Whatever  may  be  the  con- 
dition of  others,  those,  and  those  only,  who  fight  the  Lord's 
battles,  and,  like  their  Divine  Master,  endure  hardship, 
will  sit  with  Him  on  his  throne,  and  share  his  glory. 
Between  living  and  reigning,  between  life  and  glory,  a 
distinction  can  be  made.  Many,  even  among  the  heathen, 
may  live  and  be  happy  hereafter  ;  for  He  who  died,  a 
propitiation  for  our  sins,  was  a  propitiation  not  for  our 
sins  only,  but  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world ;  but  they 
who,  having  been  admitted  into  the  Church,  shall  escape 
condemnation  at  the  day  of  judgment,  are  predestined, 
not  to  life  only,  but  also  to  glory.     When  men  regard 


202  LIVES   OF  THE 

CHAP.     Christianity   from  a  sectarian  point  of  view,  they  think 

— r— <   only  of  the  salvation  of  souls.     Whereas  the  churchman, 

Pwker.     whether  Anglo-Catholic, Eoman  Catholic, or  Greek,  while 

10,39-70.    not  disregarding  the  salvation  of  souls  as  one  end,  sees 

also  the  necessity  of  supporting  that  one  society  which 

has  been  divinely  instituted  for  other  not  less  important 

purposes  in  the  heavenly  scheme. 

To  enter  more  into  detail.  The  Apostles  carried  on  the 
Church  divinely  instituted,  admitting  their  converts  into  it 
by  baptism.  Baptism  was  necessary  even  for  those  who 
already  believed,  because  baptism  is  the  means  of  admit- 
ting believers  and  their  children  into  the  Church.  To 
officiate  among  the  persons  thus  baptized,  the  Apostles 
appointed  subordinate  ministers,  priests,  and  deacons ; 
and  then  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  thus  constituted 
they  formed,  as  it  were,  colonies.  These  became  na- 
tional or  provincial  churches,  under  a  Divine  Omni- 
present Head,  and  over  these  the  Apostles  exercised 
episcopal  superintendence  ;  either  holding  an  occasional 
visitation  by  summoning  the  clergy  to  meet  them  (as  Saint 
Paul  summoned  to  Miletus  the  clergy  of  Ephesus)  ;  or 
transmitting  to  them  those  pastoral  addresses  which, 
under  the  name  of  Epistles,  form  so  important  a  portion 
of  Holy  Scripture.  At  length,  however,  it  became 
necessary  for  the  Apostles  to  proceed  yet  farther,  and  to 
do  as  their  Lord  had  empowered  them  to  do,  to  hand  on 
their  commission  to  others,  that,  at  their  own  death,  the 
government  of  the  Church  and  its  several  branches  might 
not  be  extinct.  Of  this  we  have  an  instance  in  Titus, 
who  was  placed  in  Crete  by  Saint  Paul  to  act  as  chief 
pastor  or  bishop  ;  and  another  in  Timothy,  who  was  in 
like  manner  set  over  the  Church  of  Ephesus.  When 
Timothy  was  thus  appointed  to  the  office  of  chief  pastor, 
he  was  associated  with  Saint  Paul,  who,  in  writing  to  the 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  203 

Philippians,   commences  his  salutation  thus :  "  Paul  and    chap. 

Timotheus  to  the  servants  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  are  at  . ^_1_^ 

Philippi,  with  the  bishops  and  deacons."  Now  we  have  p^rL^ 
here  the  three  orders  of  the  ministry  clearly  alluded  to.  1559-75. 
The  title  of  Bishop  is  doubtless  given  to  the  second  order  ; 
it  is  not,  however,  for  words,  but  for  things  that  we  are 
to  contend.  Titles  may  be  changed  while  offices  remain  : 
so  senators  exist,  though  they  are  not  of  necessity  old 
men ;  and  most  absurd  would  it  be  to  contend  that,  when 
we  speak  of  the  Emperor  Constantine,  we  can  mean  that 
Constantine  held  no  other  office  than  that  held  under  the 
Eoman  republic,  because  we  find  Cicero  also  saluted  as 
Emperor.  So  stood  the  matter  in  the  first  age  of  the 
Gospel,  when  the  chief  pastors  of  the  Church  were 
generally  designated  Apostles  or  Angels,  i.  e.  messengers 
sent  by  God  Himself.  In  the  next  century,  the  office 
remaining,  the  designation  of  those  who  held  it  was 
changed,  the  title  of  Apostle  was  confined  to  the  Twelve, 
including  Saint  Paul ;  and  the  chief  pastors  who  succeeded 
them  were  thenceforth  called  Bishops,  the  subordinate 
ministers  being  styled  Priests  and  Deacons.  For  when 
the  name  of  Bishop  was  given  to  those  who  had  that  over- 
sight of  presbyters,  which  presbyters  had  of  their  flocks, 
it  would  have  been  manifestly  inconvenient,  and  calculated 
to  create  confusion,  to  continue  the  episcopal  name  to  the 
second  order.  Thus  we  see,  as  Christ  was  sent  by  the 
Pather,  so  He  sent  the  Apostles  ;  as  the  Apostles  were 
sent  by  Christ,  so  did  they  send  the  first  race  of  bishops  ; 
as  the  first  race  of  bishops  was  sent  by  the  Apostles,  so 
they  sent  the  second  race  of  bishops  ;  the  second  the 
third ;  and  so  down  to  our  present  bishops,  who  thus  trace 
their  spiritual  descent  from  Saint  Peter  and  Saint  Paul,  and 
prove  their  divine  authority  to  govern  the  churches  over 
which  they  are  canonically  appointed  to  preside.     The 


204 


links  o\-   Tin: 


CHAP. 
VIII. 


three  orders  of  the  ministry  in  the  New  Testament  stai 
thus :  first  order,  Apostle  ;  second  order,  Bishop,  Pre 
third  order,  Deacon.      Afterwards,  tl 


Matthew     •, 

Parker,     byter  or  Elder 

1559-75.    office  remaining  the  same,  there  was  a  change  in  the  title, 

and  the  ministers  of  Christ  were  designated  thus :  first 

order,  Bishop,  formerly  Apostle  ;  second  order,  Presbyter 

or  Elder  ;  third  order,  Deacon.* 

Thus,  in  the  opinion  of  the   English   reformers,  the 

apostolical   succession  was    of  vital   importance  to   the 


Primacy 
offered  to 
Parker. 


very  existence  of  the  Church  universal  and  to  its  vario 
branches.     Without  the  apostolical  succession,  this  co 
tinuity  of  the  Church,  and  the   organic  identity  of  th 
present  with  the  past,  could   not    be   preserved.       The 
authorities  in  Church  and  State  concurred  in  their  belief 
that   the   continuity  could  not  be  sustained  unless    the 
archiepiscopal   throne  were  occupied  by  one  who  coul 
trace  his  authority  to  act,  in  things  sacred,  up  to  Augustin 
through  Augustine  to  the  Apostles,  and  through  them  t 
the    Divine    Head,    who   breathed   upon   the    apostolii 
college,  saying,  "Eeceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost." 

The  question,  therefore,  now  raised,  was  not  as  to  th 
necessity  of  appointing  a  successor  to  Eeginald  Pole,  dul; 
consecrated  ;   but  as  to  the  person   on  whose  head  th 
mitre,  now  vacant  by  his  death,  should  be  placed.     X< 
doubt  was  entertained  upon  the  subject  by  the  queen  o 
by  Cecil.     It  was  felt,  that  no  man  was  so  well  qualified 
to  fill  the  vacant  post  as  Matthew  Parker — a  man  not  of 
brilliant  talents,  but  of  sound  judgment ;  who,  in  a  revo- 
lutionary age,  was  opposed  to  rash  innovations  ;   whos 

*  u  Ab  apostolis  instituti  sunt  episcopi  in  ecclesiis,  et  successor 
eorum  usque  ad  nos."  Irenasus,  iii.  cap.  3.  "  They  did  not  accoui 
it  to  be  a  church,"  says  Hooker  (Eccles.  Polity,  book  vii.  ch.  v.  p.  2. 
"  -which  was  not  subject  unto  a  bishop.  It  was  the  general  receivec 
persuasion  of  the  ancient  Christian  world,  that  ecclesia  est  in  episcopt 
1  the  outward  being  of  a  church  consisteth  in  the  having  of  a  bishop." 


; 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  205 

principles  were  so  firmly  established  that  he  could  see     chap. 
how  a  matter  of  detail  might  be  yielded  for  the  conci-  „  ^IIL 
liation  of  opponents,  without  the  sacrifice  of  anything    p£j^w 
essential  to  the  cause  he  desired  to  maintain.  1559-75. 

On  the  other  hand,  Parker's  reluctance  to  accept  the  Parker's 
archbishopric  remained  unaltered.  But  when  he  pleaded  H  accept0 
ill  health  and  insufficiency  of  means,  he  was  evidently  not  lt- 
assigning  the  real  grounds  of  his  refusal :  he  was  only 
seeking  a  pretext  for  declining  a  burden  which  he  felt 
himself  to  be  unequal  to  bear.  He  was  not  wealthy,  but 
he  had  a  competence,  and  was  a  member  of  a  wealthy 
family  :  he  had  not  good  health,  but  his  health  did  not 
prevent  him  from  working,  as  we  shall  see,  more  perse- 
veringly  than  most  men.  We  gather  from  his  diary 
and  letters  that  he  was  a  domestic  man,  and  that  he  did 
not  like  to  give  up  the  comforts  of  a  private  home,  or  to 
place  his  wife,  a  lady  by  birth  and  education,  in  a  doubt- 
ful position,  which,  so  long  as  the  queen  was  opposed 
to  the  marriage  of  the  clergy,  was  likely  to  be  the  case. 
This  difficulty,  however,  he  overcame,  and  must  have 
perceived  that  it  was  never  insurmountable. 

While,  therefore,  we  admit  that  these  pleas  had,  and 
had  justly,  their  weight  in  his  mind,  we  must  look  further 
for  the  real  grounds  of  his  Nolo  episcopari. 

It  is  clear,  that  he  almost  despaired  of  the  fortunes  of 
the  Church.  He  saw  Protestantism  degenerating  into 
Puritanism,  and  perceived  that  even  the  men  with  whom 
he  would  have  to  act,  could  not  be  depended  upon. 
The  queen  and  Cecil  were  cordially  with  him  in  prin- 
ciple and  sentiment,  but  the  queen  was  captious,  and  Cecil 
was  a  politician.  We  obtain  a  clue  to  Parker's  history 
if  we  regard  this  despair  of  success  as  the  cause  of  his 
disinclination  to  the  primacy ;  and  if  we  also  bear  it  in 
mind  that,  when  he  became  primate,  it  was  with  a  de- 


206 


LIVES   OF   Till: 


(  II. \1\ 
VIII. 

Matthew 
Parker. 


sponding  mind,  determined  to  save  what  he  could  fro 
the  genera]  ruin  with  which  the  Church  was  threatene 
His  one  grand  object,  let  it  be  repeated,  was  to  sav 
1559-75.  what  he  could ;  and  there  was  much  that  he  could  only 
save  by  sacrificing,  at  the  same  time,  some  things  he 
would  gladly  have  retained,  but  the  retention  of  which 
was  not  absolutely  essential  to  the  preservation  of  a 
Church.  We  may  illustrate  his  position  by  what  occurre 
at  his  consecration.  He  retained  for  us  the  apostoli 
succession ;  but  he  did  so  by  curtailing  the  ceremoni 
of  consecration,  and  by  not  insisting  upon  the  mitre,  th 
gloves,  or  the  pastoral  staff,  the  bestowal  of  which  ha< 
for  several  centuries  formed  part,  though  not  an  essenti; 
part,  of  the  Ordinal.* 

Parker  could  not  hide  from  himself  the  fact,  that  th 
offer  of  the  archbishopric  woidd,  in  all   probability, 
made  to  him.     He  spoke  on  the  subject  to  his  friend  S 
John  Cheke,  and  wrote  upon  it  again  to  Sir  Nicolas  Baco 
If  their  object  was  to  benefit  him,  he  repeated  what 
had  said  before,  that  his  desire  was  a  situation  whe 
he  might  enjoy  literary  leisure,  and  benefit  the  Church  b 
his  writings.     If  they  took  higher  ground,  a  younger  m 
was  necessary  to    discharge  duties   so  arduous  as  tho 
which  would  be  imposed  upon  the  archbishop  by   the 
circumstances  of  the  times.      He   told  Bacon,  that   the 
government  should  look  out  for  a  man  in  the  vigour  of 
his  faculties  ;   not  feint-hearted,   for  he  would  have 
encounter  a  bitter  opposition ;  a  man  of  fortune,  for  he 
would  have  to  maintain  the  dignity  of  his  office,  and  to 

*  Menard,  in  his  notes  on  the  Sacramentary  of  St.  Gregory,  declares 
that  the  mitre  was  not  introduced  until  the  tenth  century.  No  men- 
tion, according  to  this  writer,  is  made  of  it  in  the  ancient  Pontificals. 
Saussajus,  in  his  Panoplia  Episcopalis,  lib.  i.,  Joseph  Vicecomes,  Be 
App.  Missce,  cap.  xxix.,  claim  for  it  a  more  ancient  date ;  but  Maskel 
seems  to  concur  in  opinion  with  Menard. 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  207 

exercise  the  virtue  of  hospitality  with  diminished  means ;     chap. 
not  an  avaricious  man,  for  such  a  one  never  wins  his  way     _VIIL_^ 
to  men's  hearts. _  ££» 

It  was  so  evident  that  Parker  was  in  earnest  in  his    1559-75. 
desire  to  avoid  the  archbishopric,  that  the  government, 
urged  by  his  friends,  made  the  offer  of  the  see  of  Canter- 
bury to  two  other  divines ;  if  to  the  title  of  a  divine  Dr. 
Nicolas  Wotton  could  lay  claim. 

The  primacy  was  offered  to  Dr.  Nicolas  Wotton,  the  Primacy 
Dean  of  Canterbury ;  and  the  offer  is  a  further  proof  of  Dr.  w0t- 
tlie  queen's  disinclination  to  Protestantism,  until  she  was  0f  Canter- 
compelled,  as  an  act  of  state  policy,  to  permit  herself  to  bury- 
be  regarded  as  the  Protestant  queen.  We  here  continue 
the  distinction  formerly  made  between  a  Protestant  and  a 
Eeformer.  Both  Henry  VIII.  and  Queen  Elizabeth  were 
Eeformers  ;  but  neither  of  them  inclined  to  Lutheranism  ; 
Elizabeth,  moreover,  had  a  special  abhorrence  of  Cal- 
vinism. Such  were  precisely  the  principles  of  Nicolas 
Wotton.  He  declared,  that  the  Church  needed  reforma- 
tion in  every  department ;  but  this  did  not  prevent  him 
from  serving  as  a  statesman  under  both  Henry  and  his 
son,  under  Queen  Mary,  and  under  Queen  Elizabeth. 
Neither  Henry  nor  Mary  would  have  tolerated  a  Protes- 
tant, while,  at  the  same  time,  Eeginald  Pole,  though  not 
a  Protestant,  professed  to  be  a  Eeformer.  Wotton  had 
been  in  the  privy  council  of  the  late  sovereigns,  and  had 
filled  important  diplomatic  stations.  This  was  the  kind 
of  man  that  the  queen  would  have  liked  to  see  at  the 
head  of  the  Church  of  England.  But  Wotton  was  aware, 
that  more  than  administrative  ability  and  knowledge  of  the 
wQrld  was,  at  this  time,  required  in  the  primate.  There 
were  many  important  theological  questions  to  be  settled ; 
upon  which  a  speedy  decision  would  be  demanded,  owing 
to  the  resumption  of  the  sittings  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 


208 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

.M.iiiliew 

Parker. 

1559-75. 

Primacy 

offered  to 
Fecken- 
ham, 
Abbot  of 
West- 
minster. 


Wotton,  though  he  held   high  ecclesiastical  preferment, 

was  not  a  theologian,  and  Cecil  saw  the  wisdom   of  ac- 
cepting his  refusal  of  the  primacy.* 

The  next  oiler  astonishes  us  more.  The  primacy  wj 
offered  to  Feckenham,  Abbot  of  Westminster,  or  at  a] 
events  it  was  so  reported  and  believed.  Feckenham  iwi 
a  popular  character ;  for  there  were  many  Protestants 
who  gratefully  remembered  that,  in  the  reign  of  Mary, 
he  always  pleaded  on  the  side  of  mercy.  He  had  been 
chaplain  to  Bishop  Bonner,  and,  as  Fuller  says,  "he 
crossed  the  proverb,  '  like  master  like  man  ; '  the  patron 
being  cruel  and  the  chaplain  kind  to  such  as  in  judg- 
ment dissented  from  him."  Feckenham  had  himself  expe- 
rienced persecution  under  Edward,  and  was  preferred  by 
Mary.  After  he  was  deposed,  he  was  treated  with  much 
indulgence  by  the  ministers  of  King  Edward.  From  the 
beginning  of  Elizabeth's  reign  he  had  openly  opposed 
the  chief  measures  of  her  government ;  but  the  queen 
evidently  thought  it  possible  that,  through  the  offer  of  pre- 
ferment, he  could  be  brought  to  terms.  She  was  mistaken. 
He  remained  resolute  not  to  accept  the  royal  supremacy  ; 
and  it  is  so  unlikely  that  the  Puritans  would  have  tole- 
rated such  an  archbishop,  that  we  should  probably  be 
correct  in  saying,  that  he  was  only  "talked  of  for  the 
primacy."  f 

The  failure  of  these  negotiations  brought  that   con- 
viction to  the  queen's  mind,  at  which  her  counsellors  had 


*  Holinshed,  p.  1403;  Walton's  Life  of  Sir  Henry  Wotton;  Words- 
worth, Biog.  v.  11.  See  also  Forbes,  p.  112,  and  Hayne's  State 
Papers,  p.  324. 

"f  Wood's  Athenae,  i.  500.  The  account  of  Feckenham  in  Wood  is 
taken  chiefly  from  Eeyner's  Historia  Benedictorum.  When  Fecken- 
ham was  abbot  of  Westminster  he  planted  the  elms  where  they  still 
stand  in  Dean's  Yard. 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  209 

already  arrived,  that,  if  her  throne  was  to  stand,  she  must     chap. 

make  common  cause  with  the  Protestants.     The  queen  « r-L- 

would  have  preferred  a  Papist  with  reforming  tendencies  ;     Parked 
but  she  was  prepared  to  accept  a  Protestant  with  Catholic    1559-75. 
principles  the  more  readily,  when  Dr.  Parker,  who  had 
been  her  friend  from  childhood,  and  had  lately  been  her 
adviser,  was  the  person  selected. 

Parker  remained  unwilling  to  incur  the  responsibilities 
of  the  primacy.  He  had,  however,  become  less  reluctant 
to  yield  to  the  wishes  of  his  friends,  when  he  found  that 
the  choice  lay  between  himself  and  such  men  as  Wotton 
and  Feckenham,  both  excellent  persons,  but  certainly  not 
the  functionaries  required  by  the  exigences  of  the  age. 

On  the  17th  of  May  it  was  notified  to  Parker,  by  Lord 
Keeper  Bacon,  that  it  had  been  determined  by  the  queen 
in  council,  that  he  should  become  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
and  primate  of  all  England.  Bacon  wrote  in  terms  compli- 
mentary as  well  as  friendly  :  "  if  I  knew  a  man,"  he  said, 
"  to  whom  the  description  made  in  the  beginning  of  your 
letter  might  more  justly  be  referred  than  to  yourself,  I 
would  prefer  him  before  you ;  but  knowing  none  so 
meet,  indeed,  I  take  it  to  be  my  duty  to  prefer  you 
before  all  others,  and  the  rather  also  because,  otherwise, 
I  should  not  follow  the  advice  of  your  own  letter.  The 
rest,  which  is  much,  I  defer  till  our  next  meeting.  It  is 
like  that,  or  it  be  long,  you  shall  receive  letters  sub- 
scribed by  me  and  others  jointly."  * 

On  the  19th  of  May,  the  threatened  mandate  arrived,  Parker 
curt  and   decided :— "  after  our   hearty  commendations,  primate. 
these   be   to   signify  unto  you,  that,  for  certain  causes, 
wherein  the  queen's  majesty  intendeth  to  use  your  service, 
her  pleasure  is,  that  you  repair  up  hither  with  such  speed 
as  you  conveniently  may,  and  at  your  coming  up  you 

*  Corresp.  p.  68. 
VOL.  IX.  P 


letter  to 
the  queen. 
June,  1569 


chap,  shall  understand  the  rest."  The  letter  was  signed  "  y 
_IiHl*  loving  friends,  N.  Bacon,  W.  Cecill."  It  was  addressed 
"I'arker^  w  To  tlie  right  worshipful  and  our  very  friend  Mr.  Doctor 
1559-75.    Parker.     Give  these  with  speed."  * 

Whether  this  letter  miscarried,  or  whether  Parker  still 
hesitated  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued,  no  answer  was 
returned;  and,  on  the  29th  of  May,  another  despatch 
arrived,  in  which  surprise  is  expressed  at  the  non- arrival 
of  an  answer  to  the  preceding  summons ;  and  a  peremptory 
order  given,  that  Dr.  Parker  should  repair  without  delay 
to  the  court. 
Parkers  Parker  determined  to  address  the  queen  herself.     His 

friends  had  been  zealous    for   his   promotion,    and  had 
placed   his  character  before  her  majesty  in  too  favour- 
able a  light.     He  desired,  that  the  queen  should  exercise 
her  own  judgment  upon  the  subject.     A  man  was  re 
quired  for  the  primacy  of  more  wit,  learning,  virtue,  and 
experience   than   himself.     He   attributed  her  majesty's 
favourable  estimate  of  his  character,  to  the  fact  of  his 
having  been  chaplain  to  the  queen's  mother.     This  cir- 
cumstance had  constrained  him  to  be  the  queen's  bedes- 
man through  life ;  'and  this  only  led  him  to  regret  the 
more  his   inability,    "  inwardly  in  knowledge,  and  out 
wardly  in  extern  sufficiencies,  to  do  her  grace  any  mee 
service,"  or  such  as  would  be  answerable  to  the  expecta 
tion  of  him  which  she  had  formed.f 

The  object  of  the  letter  evidently  was  that,  in  an 
future  misunderstandings — and,   in  dealing  with  such 
person  as  Elizabeth,  they  could  not  be  avoided — he  might 
have  it  in  his  power  to  remind  the  queen,  that  the  primacy 
had  not  been  sought  by  him  ;  that  it  was  forced  upon 
him  by  her  grace ;  and  that,  if  she  should  complain  of  his 
incompetence,  the  blame  would  rest,  not  with  him,  bu 
with  her.     He  did  not  expect  any  longer  to  be  able  t 

^orresp.  p.  G9.  |  Ibid.  p.  70. 


I 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  211 

decline  the  post ;  and  therefore,  after  taking  this  precau-     chap. 
tion,  he  gracefully  concludes  by  referring  himself  wholly  *zrr: — - 
to  her  grace's  pleasure,   rather   than  by  just  allegation    Parker, 
of  his  unworthiness,  the  loyal  duty  of  his  faithful  heart    1559-75- 
should,  in  any  way,  be  suspected.* 

The  only  notice  taken  of  this  appeal  to  her  majesty,  Parker 
and  probably  the  only  answer  expected,  was  an  official  monedto1" 
summons  to  the  court,  accompanied  by  the    following  court* 
kind  letter  from  the  lord  keeper,  which  was  intended  to 
be  jocose,  and  was  really  quaint : — 

"  The  former  resolution  concerning  you  is  now  con- 
firmed by  a  second,  and  if  you  be  not  already  sent  for  to 
come  hither,  it  will  not  be  long  or  you  shall.  I  meant, 
before  I  understood  thus  much,  to  have  had  you  this 
night  at  supper  at  my  house,  for  the  matter  of  your  letters 
delivered  to  me  by  one  that  sued  for  a  ne  exeat  regnum, 
which  at  my  return  to  London  he  shall  have  ;  but  being 
countermanded  by  the  queen,  I  must  intreat  you  to  take 
pain  with  my  wife  to  pass  away  a  shrewd  supper. 
Written  in  haste  from  the  court  by  your  assuredly, 
N.  Bacon." f 

Parker  now  prepared  in  earnest  to  yield  to  the  solicit- 
ations of  his  friends  and  the  commands  of  the  queen. 
As  often  happens  in  such  cases,  when  he  girded  on  his 
armour,  and  went  forth  into  the  battlefield,  he  found  the 
difficulties  fewer  and  his  own  powers  greater  than,  by  his 
timidity  or  his  modesty,  he  had  been  led  to  expect  or  to 
fear.     He  rose  to  his  position. 

On  the  18th  of  July  a  conge  oVelire  was  issued  to  the  Congk 

d'elire. 

Dean  and  Chapter  of  Canterbury  in  the  following  form  :     juiy  is, 

1559. 

"  The  Queen  to  her  beloved  in  Christ,  the  Dean  and  Chapter 
of  the  Metropolitan  Church  of  Canterbury,  greeting :  On  your 
part  a  humble  supplication  has  been  made  to  us,  that  whereas 

*  Corresp.  p.  70.  t  Ibid-  P-  71* 

p  2 


212 


LIVES    OF   THE 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew 

Parker. 
1559-75. 


Election. 
August  1, 


the  aforesaid  church,  by  the  natural  death  of  the  most  reverend 
father  and  lord  in  Christ,  the  Lord  Reginald  Pole,  cardinal, 
the  last  archbishop  thereof,  is  now  vacant  and  destitute  of  the 
solace  of  a  pastor,  we  would  be  graciously  pleased  to  grant  to 
you  our  fundatorial  licence  to  elect  another  archbishop  and 
pastor,  We,  favourably  inclined  to  your  prayers  in  this  matter, 
have  thought  fit  to  grant  you  this  licence,  requiring  that  you 
may  elect  such  a  person  archbishop  and  pastor  who  may  be  de- 
voted to  God  and  useful  and  faithful  to  us  and  our  kingdom. 
In  testimony  of  which  thing,  &c.  Witness  the  Queen  at  West- 
minster, on  the  18th  day  of  July,  1559."  * 

Whether  a  letter  missive  was  addressed  on  this  oc- 
casion to  the  dean  and  chapter  in  the  queen's  name  is 
doubtful ;  but  the  dean  and  chapter  were  perfectly  aware 
that  it  was  intended,  that  they  should  elect  Dr.  Parker  ; 
and  they  were  careful  to  observe  the  ancient  precedents  of 
the  Church  of  England.  It  was  reported  that,  proceeding 
"  according  to  the  ancient  manner  and  laudable  custom 
of  the  aforesaid  church,  anciently  used  and  inviolably 
observed,"  they  elected  Matthew  Parker,  D.D.,  for  their 
bishop  on  the  1st  of  August,  1559. 

The  archbishop  elect  was  immediately  involved  in  a 
multiplicity  of  business.  Before  taking  possession  of  the 
see,  he  wished  to  have  settled  some  questions  relating  to 
the  temporalities  of  the  Church ;  which,  in  the  confusion 
of  the  time  and  the  unprincipled  avarice  both  of  the  sove- 
reign and  of  her  courtiers,  had  become  complicated  and 
endangered. 

It  was  not  till  the  9th  of  September,  that  he  heard 
again  from  the  lord  keeper,  who  had  been  diligently 
labouring  in  his  friend's  behalf.  Bacon  sent  to  Parker,  as 
he  said,  "the  royal  assent,  sealed  and  delivered  within 
two  hours  after  the  receipt  thereof,  wishing  unto  him  as 


*  Rolls,  Patents   1  Eliz.  p.  6.     Fcedera,  xv.  536. 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  213 

good  success  therein  as  ever  happened  to  any  that  have     cha 

received  the  like."    He  wrote  from  Eedgrave,  his  country  . J 

house  ;  and  he  displays  a  poetical  turn  of  mind,  when,  in     PaA 
allusion  to  his  enjoyment  of  a  brief  holiday,  and  an  escape    1559- 
from  the  turmoils  of  the  metropolis,  he  tells  his  friend  : 
"  It  fares  by  me  as  it  doth  by  a  bird  that  hath  scaped 
out  of  the  cage,  which  tasting  the  sweets  of  liberty  never 
returns  unforced."  * 

The  congratulations  of  the  lord  keeper  were  premature. 
Through  the  inadvertence  of  the  official  whose  business 
it  was  to  draw  up  the  letters  patent,  the  commission 
issued  for  the  confirmation  and  consecration  of  the  primate  tl0n- 
elect  was  found,  through  the  omission  of  a  sentence,  to  be 
insufficient  for  its  object.  The  commission  was  addressed 
to  six  prelates  :  Cuthbert,  Bishop  of  Durham  ;  Gilbert, 
Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells;  David,  Bishop  of  Peterborough ; 
Anthony,  Bishop  of  LlandafF;  William  Barlow,  Bishop  ; 
and  John  Scory,  Bishop.  It  stated,  that  whereas  the 
archiepiscopal  see  of  Canterbury  was  lately  vacant  by  the 
death  of  the  Lord  Eeginald  Pole,  a  licence  had  been 
granted  to  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Canterbury  to  elect 
another  archbishop  and  pastor  to  the  see  aforesaid,  and 
that  their  choice  had  fallen  on  Matthew  Parker,  as  by 
their  letters  patent,  sealed  with  their  common  seal,  it  was 
made  evident  and  apparent.  It  went  on  to  sa}^,  "We, 
accepting  that  election,  have  granted  to  the  said  election 
our  royal  assent  and  also  favour,  and  this  by  the  tenour  of 
these  presents  we  signify  to  you ;  requiring,  and  strictly 
commanding  you,  by  the  faith  and  affection  in  which  you 
are  held  by  us,  that  you  would  effectually  confirm  the 
said  Matthew  Parker,  elected  to  be  archbishop  and  pastor 
as  is  before  mentioned  of  the  aforesaid  cathedral  and 
metropolitan  church  of  Christ  at  Canterbury,  and  that 

*  Corresp.  p.  76. 


214 


LIVI-S    OF    THE 


you  would  effectually  confirm  the  aforesaid  election,  ;iik 
consecrate   the   said   Matthew    Parker   archbishop   an< 
pastor  of  the  church  aforesaid,  and  perforin  all  such  an< 
singular  other  things  which  belong  in  this  matter  to  your 
pastoral  office,  according  to  the  form  of  the  statutes  in 
this    behalf  set  forth  and  provided."     This  was  issued  by 
writ  from  the  privy  seal  by  order  of  the  queen,  who  was 
at  this  time  paying  a  visit  to  the  lord  keeper  at  Ee( 


grave. 


The  inadvertence  alluded  to  was  this,  that  the  clause 

"  or  at  least  four  of  you,"  was  omitted.     It  followed, 

therefore,  that  if  one  were  absent,  or  if  one  refused  to  act, 
the  rest  could  not  proceed  legally  to  confirm  or  to  conse- 
crate. It  so  happened,  that  of  the  persons  named  in  the 
commission,  three  were  either  unwilling,  or  else  from  ill- 
health  were  unable,  to  act ;  but,  being  personal  friends 
of  the  primate  elect,  and  having  generally  agreed  to  the 
ecclesiastical  reforms  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIIL,  it  was 
still  hoped,  that  they  would  conform  to  the  regulations  of 
the  present  reign  ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  late  acts  of 
Parliament,  the  government  was  in  no  hurry  to  deprive 
them  of  their,  sees.f 

*  Mason  in  his  Vindicise,  writes  thus  of  the  letters  patent : — 
"  These  royal  letters  patent  which  we  produce,  are  so  publicly  and 
openly  passed  in  the  face  of  the  world,  that  it  is  utterly  impossible 
for  them  to  be  forged  or  counterfeited ;  for,  according  to  the  statute 
made  in  the  twenty-seventh  year  of  King  Henry  VIIL,  in  the  first 
place,  the  king's  highness  signs  the  same  with  his  own  hand.  Secondly, 
one  of  the  king's  clerks  of  his  signet  upon  the  right  of  the  king's  hand, 
puts  the  king's  signet  thereto,  and  subscribing  the  same  with  his  own 
hand,  transmits  them  to  the  lord  keeper  of  the  privy  seal.  Thirdly,  one 
of  the  king's  clerks  of  the  privy  seal  affixes  the  privy  seal  thereto,  and 
subscribing  the  same  with  his  own  hand,  directs  them  to  the  lord  high 
chancellor  of  England,  or  lord  keeper  of  the  great  seal  of  England, 
who,  at  the  sight  of  the  privy  seal,  appends  to  them  the  great  seal  of 
England." 

+  It  would  seem  that  it  was  at  first  the  intention  to  permit  them 


.     ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  215 

Whether  the  recusants  were  influenced  by  conscientious     chap. 

or  by  party  motives,  the  result  was  the  same,  and  another  <.,_  ^lJ 

commission  was  prepared.     When  the  draft  of  the  com-  ^kerT 

mission  was  submitted  to  Cecil,  it  appeared  to  his  acute  1559-75, 

mind,  that   the  wording  was  not  even  then  sufficiently  Th<?se.cond 

0  j   com  mis- 

precise  to  prevent  other  legal  questions  from  arising  relat-  sion  for  the 

ing  to  the  temporalities  of  the  Church  ;  and  the  primate  tion. 
elect,  with  his  usual  caution,  submitted  the  draft  of  the 
proposed  letters  patent  to  the  inspection  of  six  eminent 
lawyers,  to  obtain  from  each  an  opinion.  These  pre- 
cautions having  been  taken,  other  letters  patent  were 
granted  by  the  queen  on  the  6th  of  December,  having  been 
unanimously  approved  by  the  lawyers  who  had  been 
consulted.     The  letters  patent  ran  thus  : — 

"  Elizabeth,  by  the  grace  of  Grod,  of  England,  France,   and  Letters 
Ireland,  Queen,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  &c,  to   the  reverend  Pateufc- 

v  7  7  Decem- 

fathersin  Christ,  Antony,  Bishop  ofLlandaff;  William  Barlow,  ber  6, 
sometime  Bishop  of  Bath,  now  elect  of  Chichester :  John  Scory,  °  ' 
sometime  Bishop  of  Chichester,  now  elect  of  Hereford ;  Miles 
Coverdale,  sometime  Bishop  of  Exeter ;  John,  Suffragan  of 
Bedford ;  John,  Suffragan  of  Thetford ;  John  Bale,  Bishop  of 
Ossory,  greeting :  Whereas  the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Canterbury 
being  lately  vacant  by  the  natural  death  of  the  Lord  Reginald 
Pole,  cardinal,  last  and  immediate  archbishop  and  pastor  of 
the  same,  upon  the  humble  petition  of  the  dean  and  chapter 
of  our  cathedral,  and  metropolitan  church  of  Christ  at  Canter- 
bury, We,  by  our  letters  patent,  have  granted  to  the  same, 
licence  to  elect  for  themselves  another  archbishop  and  pastor 
of  the  see  aforesaid ;  and  the  said  dean  and  chapter,  by  virtue 
of  our  aforesaid  licence  obtained,  have   elected  for  themselves 

to  retain  their  sees  for  a  longer  time,  but  difficulties  appear  to  have 
arisen,  for  Tunstall  was  deprived,  or  probably,  we  should  say,  resigned 
his  see,  on  the  28th  of  September,  1559.  The  Bishops  of  Bath  and 
Peterborough  were  deposed  during  the  autumn.  Knowing  that  they 
would  be  ultimately  deposed,  they  probably  expedited  the  act. 


21G 


LIVES    OF   THE 


CHAP. 

VIII. 

Matthew 

Parker. 

1559-75. 


and  the  church  aforesaid  our  beloved  in  Christ,  Matthew 
Parker,  D.D.,  as  archbishop  and  pastor,  as  by  their  letters 
patent,  sealed  with  the  common  seal,  thereupon  directed  to  us, 
is  more  fully  evident  and  apparent.  We,  accepting  that 
election,  have  granted  to  the  said  election  our  royal  assent  and 
also  favour,  and  this  by  the  tenour  of  these  presents  we  sig- 
nify to  you :  requiring  and  strictly  commanding  you,  by  the 
faith  and  affection  in  which  you  are  held  by  us,  that  you, 
or  at  least  four  of  you,  would  effectually  confirm  the  said 
Matthew  Parker  elected  to  be  archbishop  and  pastor,  as  before 
mentioned,  of  the  aforesaid  cathedral  and  metropolitan  church 
of  Christ  at  Canterbury,  and  would  effectually  confirm  the 
aforesaid  election,  and  consecrate  the  said  Matthew  Parker 
archbishop  and  pastor  of  the  church  aforesaid,  and  perform  and 
execute  all  and  singular  other  things  which  belong  in  this 
matter  to  your  pastoral  office,  according  to  the  form  of  ttie 
statutes  in  this  behalf  set  forth  and  provided,  supplying  never- 
theless by  our  supreme  royal  authority  of  our  mere  motion  and 
certain  knowledge,  whatever  either  in  the  things  to  be  done 
by  you  pursuant  to  our  aforesaid  mandates,  or  in  you,  or 
any  of  you,  your  condition,  state,  or  power,  for  the  performance 
of  the  premisses,  may  or  shall  be  wanting  of  those  things  which, 
either  by  the  statutes  of  this  realm,  or  by  the  ecclesiastical 
laws  are  required  or  are  necessary  on  this  behalf,  the  state  of 
the  times  and  the  exigency  of  affairs  rendering  it  necessary. 
In  witness  whereof  we  have  caused  these  our  letters  to  be 
made  patent.  Witness  ourselves  at  Westminster,  the  6th  day 
of  December,  the  second  year  of  our  reign." 


Four 
bishops 
to  offio'ate 
at  the  con- 
secration 
of  a  me- 
tropolitan. 


On  this  mandate  we  may  observe  that,  although  a 
consecration  by  three  bishops  would  have  been  correct, 
according  to  the  principles  of  the  universal  Church,  the 
ministration,  nevertheless,  of  four  functionaries  at  least 
was  required  by  an  Act  passed  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 
for  the  consecration  of  an  English  primate.  If,  under  the 
circumstances,  a  consecration  had  taken  place,  it  would 
have  been  a  valid  consecration,  canonical,  but  not  legal. 


rcissioners. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  217 

The  person  consecrated  would  not  have  ceased  to  be  a     chap. 

•  .  v  t  t  r 

.bishop  ;  but  the  legality  of  the  act  might  have  been  ques-  < — — -* 

tioned  in  the  temporal  courts,  and  the  bishops  consecrating  Parker. 
might  have  been  subjected  to  legal  penalties.  We  may  also  1-359-75. 
remark,  that  "  the  supplentes  "  clause,  or  the  supplying  by 
the  queen's  authority  what  might  be  lacking  in  the  com- 
mission, refers  to  possible  legal  defects,  and  to  these  only. 
The  court  of  Eome,  as  Archbishop  Bramhall  and  Mr. 
Haddan  clearly  prove,  in  suchlike  interests,  has  generally 
such  dispensation  clauses  for  "more  abundant  caution." 

Immediately  consequent  upon  this  commission,  Bishop  citation b 
Barlow  directed  a  citation  to  be  published  to  all  opposers  ;  th.e  c.om- 
calling  upon  them  to  declare  any  canonical  objection,  if 
any  such  objection  could  be  raised.  It  commences  thus, 
"  William,  sometime  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  to  all  and 
singular  the  subjects  of  our  lady  the  queen,  wheresoever 
they  be  throughout  the  whole  kingdom  of  England, 
greeting."  He  then  proceeds,  in  the  legal  verbiage  of 
which  we  have  already  had  a  specimen,  and  with  which, 
in  all  public  documents,  we  are  still  familiar,  to  repeat 
what  was  said  in  the  royal  mandate  : — 

"  That  the  see  of  Canterbury  having  become  vacant  by  the 
natural  death  of  the  Lord  Keginald  Cardinal  Pole,  last  and 
immediate  archbishop  thereof,  and  the  dean  and  chapter,  acting 
under  the  royal  licence,  having  duly  elected  the  Eeverend 
Matthew  Parker,  D.D.5  to  be  their  archbishop,  the  queen  had 
given  her  royal  assent  to  the  said  election  of  the  person  elected  ; 
had  signified  to  him  and  his  associates,  by  her  royal  letters 
patent  under  the  great  seal  of  England,  her  commands  to 
confirm  the  person  elected  and  the  aforesaid  election,  and  to 
consecrate  the  said  Matthew,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  with 
all  convenient  speed." 

He  straightway  affirms  the  willingness  of  the  commis- 
sioners to  obey  the  royal  mandate ;  and  they  forthwith 


218  lives  of  Tin: 

chap,     decreed  that  all  and  singular  opposers,  if  such  there  were, 
— ,— !->    who  wished  to  speak  against  or  oppose  the  said  election, 
Parkar     the  form  thereof,  or  the  person  elected,  should  be  "cited 
1.350-75.    and  summoned  to  appear  in  the  parish  church  of  St.  Mary- 
le-Bow,  in  the  city  of  London,  but  within  the  immediate 
jurisdiction  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  Canterbury,  on  the 
Saturday  following,  viz.  the  9th  day  of  December,  between 
the  hours  of  eight  and  nine  in  the  forenoon  of  the  same 
day,  with  continuation  and  prorogation  of  days  then  fol- 
lowing if  need  should  so  require,  to  speak,  except,  pro- 
pose, and  do,  and  further  to  receive  what  justice  should 
require  in  the  matter,  and  the  quality  and  nature  of  the 
said  business  demand  and  require  of  them." 

To  this  document  the  seal  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of 
Canterbury  was  affixed.  It  bore  date  at  London,  the  6th 
day  of  December.  Thomas  Willet,  notary  public,  made 
affidavit,  and  certified  to  the  said  Lord  William,  sometime 
Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  that  on  the  7th  day  of  the 
month,  he  had  executed  the  mandate  aforesaid  in  the 
church  of  St.  Mary-le-Bow.* 
Confir-  On  the  9th  of  December,  between  the  hours  of  eight 

SecT'  and  nine,  the  lords  commissioners  took  their  seats  in 
ioo9.  -qow  Church.  Before  them  appeared  in  person  John 
Incent,  notary  public,  and  presented  the  royal  letters 
commissary  patent,  which  have  just  been  laid  before  the 
reader.  He  humbly  supplicated  the  lords  commissioners 
to  proceed  to  the  business  of  the  confirmation.  The 
commissioners  desired  the  document  to  be  read  ;  and 
immediately  signified  their  readiness,  in  obedience  to  the 
royal  mandate,  to  proceed  according  to  the  force,  form, 
and  effect  thereof.     Incent  exhibited  his  proxy  for  th< 

*  There  are  obvious  reasons  why  certain  processes,  which  in  ordinal 
cases  may  be  taken  for  granted,  should  be  particularized  when  we 
noticing  the  consecration  of  Parker. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  219 

Dean  and  Chapter  of  Canterbury,  and  made  himself  a  party  chap. 
for  them.  In  the  procuratorial  name  of  the  Dean  and  .  vnL  ^ 
Chapter,  he  presented  to  the  commissioners  the  worshipful  pJ^JT 
Nicholas  Bullingham,  doctor  of  laws,  who  exhibited  his  1559-75 
proxy  for  the  worshipful  and  illustrious  Matthew  Parker, 
elect  of  Canterbury,  and  made  himself  a  party  for  the 
same.  Incent  then  exhibited  the  original  citatorial  man- 
date, together  with  a  certificate  endorsed  with  the  execution 
thereof ;  and  prayed  all  and  singular  persons  cited  to  be 
publicly  preconized.  A  public  preconization  having  been 
made  three  several  times,  of  all  and  singular  opposers,  at 
the  doors  of  Bow  Church,  and  no  one  appearing  or  op- 
posing, the  notary  public  accused  of  contumacy  all  opposers 
who  refused  to  appear  when  summoned  ;  and  he  prayed 
that  each  of  them  should  be  reputed  contumacious,  and 
in  pain  of  such  their  contumacy,  be  precluded  the  means 
of  further  opposing  in  this  matter  the  said  election, 
form,  or  person  elected.  The  lords  commissioners  pro- 
nounced them  contumacious,  and  granted  the  prayer 
of  the  petition.  Incent  then  exhibited  the  process  of 
election,  which  was  inspected  and  examined  by  the  lords 
commissioners,  who  willed  and  decreed  that  the  process 
should  be  taken  and  considered  as  read.  Witnesses  having 
been  called  and  examined  in  confirmation  of  the  attesta- 
tions of  Incent,  and  certain  other  forms  having  been  gone 
through,  the  commissioners  confirmed  the  election,  and 
decreed  that  the  said  most  reverend  lord,  now  elected 
and  confirmed,  should  be  consecrated  and  blessed.  They 
further  committed  to  the  said  lord  elected  and  confirmed, 
the  guardianship  and  administration  of  the  spiritualities 
and  temporalities  of  the  said  archbishopric  of  Canterbury. 
They  also  decreed  him  to  be  put  into  real,  actual,  and 
corporeal  possession  of  the  said  archbishopric,  and  all 
rights,  dignities,  and  honours  pertaining  and  belonging  to 


220 


LIVES    OF   THE 


CRAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew- 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


Form  of 
confir- 
mation. 


Parker 

archbishop 

elect. 


- 


it ;  they  gave  directions,  that  after  his  consecration 
should  be  enthroned  by  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  C 
terbury,  and  any  other  or  ever  to  whom  by  rig]  it  a 
custom  that  office  is  known  to  belong,  according  to  t 
laudable  custom  at  the  church  of  Christ  at  Canterbury, 
neither  objecting  to,  nor  opposing  the  modern  laws  and 
statutes  of  this  illustrious  kingdom  of  England.'" 

Such  from  time  immemorial  has  been  the  form 
confirming  bishops  in  England ;  and  such  the  form  which 
still  remains,  varying  merely  in  the  necessary  details. 
But  we  must  remark,  that  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time  the 
process  was  more  than  a  mere  form.  Opposers  in  the 
sixteenth  century  would  have  been  heard,  if  they  had  any 
objection  to  offer:  whereas,  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
when  opposers  in  a  memorable  case  appeared,  they  were 
refused  a  hearing. 

Matthew  Parker  was  now  lord  archbishop  elect  of 
Canterbury.  Although  he  did  not  possess  before  his 
consecration  the  potestas  ordinis,  he  could  exercise  so 
much  of  the  potestas  jurisdictionis  as  was,  during  the 
vacancy  of  the  see,  until  his  election,  confided  to  the  Dean 
and  Chapter  of  Canterbury.  Parker  determined  to  put 
in  force  the  powers  he  thus  possessed,  aided  also  as  he 
was  by  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown,  in  order  that  some 
temporal  affairs  dependent  upon  the  ecclesiastical  st 
might  be  settled  before  his  assumption  of  the  full  pow 

*  The  deed  of  confirmation  from  which  the  statements  in  the  U 
are  taken,  still  exists.  It  may  be  seen  in  Archbishop  Parker's  regist 
preserved  with  minute  care,  in  the  archiepiscopal  library  of  Lamb* 
and  a  facsimile  of  it  is  given  in  the  splendid  work  of  Mr.  Bailey, 
which  reference  has  been  so  frequently  made.  The  deed  is  of  consid* 
able  size,  on  a  sheet  of  vellum  ;  the  handwriting  is  the  same  as  tl 
which  appears  in  Cranmer's  register.  So  that  the  document  we  rei 
to  is  a  contemporary  document,  and  the  initials  A.  H.,  which  occask 
ally  occur,  prove  the  writer  to  be  Anthony  Huse,  Cranmer's  regist 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  221 

of  the  primacy.     Owing  to  the  cessation  of  our   inter-    chap. 
course  with  Rome,  and  our  rejection  of  the  papal  su-  . — ., ,   -,> 
premacy,  there  wrere  several  legal  matters  which  required    Parker* 
to  be  adjusted;  in  the  adjustment  of  which  Parker  did    1559-75. 
not  wish   to  establish   a  precedent  to   be  followed   by 
future    metropolitans.      Certain    points    required   to  be 
settled,  and  to  be  settled  once  for  all ;  but,  being  in  an 
anomalous  position,  he  desired  to  have  some  of  his  actions 
regarded  as  exceptional. 

Parker,  lenient  as  he  was  to  the  Anglo-Catholics,  was 
now  convinced  that  he  must  compel  them  to  separate  from 
the  extremes  on  their  side  of  the  Church — the  papists  ; 
and  he  could  listen  to  no  further  proposals  on  the  part 
of  the  deposed  diocesans.  Out  of  the  moderate  men  on 
both  sides  he  formed  a  third  party — a  new  man — and 
this  party  he  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Protestants, 
attaching  thereto  a  new  meaning. 

The   diocesans,  after   a   time,  perceived  the   mistake  Letter 
they  had  committed,  and  sought  to  regain  their  position ;  E^eror 
but  Parker  was  firm.     The  attempt,  on  their  part,  was  and  Ger_ 
now  simply  for  toleration ;  and   the  Emperor,  together  princes, 
with  those  of  the  German  princes  who  co-operated  with 
him,  and  by  whose  advice  the  deposed  diocesans  had 
ited,  addressed  the  queen  in  their  favour.     They  urged 
ter,  if  she  deposed  these  diocesans,  to  permit  them  to 
officiate  as  "vacant  bishops,"  and  to  assign  to  them  cer- 
tain churches  in  the  large  towns. 

The  queen's  reply,  under  the  advice  of  Parker,  was  The 
consistent  and  dignified.  A  reference  was  first  made  to  the  ^ejen  s 
past  history  of  these  prelates.  They  had  subscribed  to 
the  royal  supremacy  in  her  father's  reign,  and  why  should 
they  withhold  their  subscription  now  ?  Although  their 
inconsistent  obstinacy  was  causing  disturbance  and  dissent, 
the  queen  wras  ready  to   treat   them   with  consideration 


222  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,     and  gentleness  ;  but  she  could  not  venture,  by  granting 
the  Emperor's  request,  to  give  offence  to  the  rest  of  her 


Parked  subjects.  To  grant  to  the  recalcitrant  prelates  separate 
1559-75.  churches,  and  to  permit  them  to  keep  up  a  distinct  com- 
munion, were  things  which  neither  the  public  interest  nor 
her  own  honour  would  permit.  The  request  for  such 
indulgence  was,  she  said,  unreasonable,  "for  there  was 
no  new  faith  propagated  in  England ;  no  religion  set  up, 
but  that  which  was  commanded  by  our  Saviour,  practised 
by  the  primitive  Church,  and  unanimously  approved  by 
the  fathers  of  the  best  antiquity  ....  therefore,  though 
out  of  her  own  clemency,  and  especially  at  the  request 
of  certain  crowned  heads,  she  was  willing  to  connive  a 
little,  in  order  to  reclaim  these  prelates  to  better  temper, 
yet  she  was  resolved  not  to  be  so  kind  as  to  feed  their 
disease,  and  cherish  their  obstinacy."* 

Thus  did  the  archbishop  elect,  through  the  advice  given 
to  the  queen,  proclaim  the  intention  of  the  government  to 
take  the  Protestant  standpoint  when  acting  against  Papists. 
The  queen  and  her  advisers  had  an  opportunity  of  show- 
ing their  determination,  on  the  other  hand,  to  uphold 
Catholicism,  as  distinguished  from  Eomanism,  against  the 
ultra-Protestants  or   Puritans  ;  for  a   petition   was   soon 
after  addressed  to  the  crown  from  the  opposite  extreme. 
Petition  of       The  Puritans  persuaded  their  friends  and  supporters 
tans  to  tie  abroad,  to  urge  the  queen  to  give  them  full  liberty  to 
manage  their  own  affairs.     In  her  reply  to  them,  the 
The  queen  pointed  out  that  they  petitioned  for  nothing  less 

queen's  *  *  .     .  ° 

reply.  than  for  permission  to  set  at  nought  the  canons  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  the  statutes  of  her  realm.  It  was 
not  consistent,  she  observed,  with  her  interest  and  honoi 
to  allow  diversity  of  practice. 

*  Camden,  p.  40.     Collier,  vi.  263. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  223 

In  both  these  answers  the  tone  and  the  spirit  were  ad-    chap. 
mirable.     But  the  queen's  conduct  was  the  more  to  be  -A  ,  '  ^ 
admired  in  her  reply  to  the  Puritans,  because  by  them  she    p^ker7 
had  of  late  been  grossly  insulted.     By  both  the  Papists    1559-75. 
and  the  Puritans  her  government  had  been  opposed ;  but 
hitherto  she  had  met,  for  the  most  part,  with  courtesy 
and  kindness  from  those  of  her  subjects  who  contended 
for  the  papal  supremacy.     Up  to  this  time  it  wTas  by  the 
Puritans  that  she  had  been  personally  insulted ;  and  they 
attacked  her  with  bad  feeling  and  bad  taste.     A  large  John  Knox 
number  of  the  Puritans  were  under  the  influence  of  John  f"™  a° 
Knox,  who  was  attempting  to  form  a  party  against  both  Gainst  the 
the  queen  and  the  Church  of  England.     Not  only  had  <3ueen  and 

,  .     H  ,  -.1  11.  it.,        the  Church 

this  fierce  man  sought  to  blast,  by  his  maledictions,  the  of  Eng- 
government  of  females,  advocating  their  destruction  when- 
ever the  sceptre  was  wielded  by  woman's  hand,  but  he 
had  lately  threatened  "death  and  damnation  to  such  as, 
either  in  their  forehead  or  hand,  bear  the  mark  of  the 
beast."  And  a  portion  of  his  mark,  he  said,  "  are  all 
these  dregs  of  papistry  which  are  left  in  your  great  book 
of  England  (viz.  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer),  such  as 
crossing  in  baptism,  kneeling  at  the  Lord's  table,  mum- 
bling or  singing  of  the  Litany,  'afulgure  et  tempestate,  fyc. : 
any  one  jot  of  which  diabolical  inventions  will  I  never 
counsel  any  man  to  use.  The  whole  order  of  your  book 
appeareth  rather  to  be  devised  for  upholding  of  massing- 
priests  than  for  any  good  instruction  which  the  simple 
people  can  receive  thereof.  Your  sacraments  were  minis- 
tered, for  the  most  part,  without  the  soul,  and  by  those 
who  to  Christ  Jesus  are  no  true  ministers,  and  God  grant 
that  so  yet  they  be  not,"  &c.  &c* 

*  Collier,  vi.  277.  It  is  evident  that  John  Knox  had  no  reluctance 
to  the  unchurching  of  the  Church  of  England.  Parker's  abhorrence  of 
the  man  was  often  expressed. 


224 


LIVES    OF   THE 


CHAP. 

VIII. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1659-7o. 

Divisions 
among  the 
Puritans. 


The  fact  is,  that  the  Puritans  were  already  split  into 
two  parties;  and  the  divergence  continued  to  increase. 
The  one  party,  to  which  the  name  of  Puritans  soon 
became  exclusively  attached,  was  devoted  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Calvinistic  reformers,  and  as  such  was 
opposed  to  the  continuance  of  the  episcopate.  The 
English  reformers  became  aware,  that  this  was  giving  up 
the  whole  question  of  the  continuity  of  the  Church.  The 
question  had  come  to  this — shall  we  have  the  old  Catholic 
Church  reformed,  or  shall  we  establish  a  new  Protestant 
sect  ?  Among  the  returned  exiles  there  were  many  who, 
although  they  were  too  much  influenced  by  their  foreign 
correspondents  in  points  of  doctrine,  nevertheless  saw 
clearly  the  advantage  of  adhering  to  the  Church  syste 
Both  Parker  and  Cecil  recognized  the  policy  of  con 
ciliating  these  persons.  They  became  aware,  that  larg< 
concessions  would  have  to  be  made  to  their  prejudices ; 
but  they  would  do  for  the  Church  the  best  they  could 
by  securing  their  conformity.  They  felt,  that  omissions 
might  be  supplied  and  corrections  might  be  made  by 
future  legislation ;  and  the  very  circumstances  of  their 
position  would  lead  the  majority  of  the  conformists  to 
right  conclusions.  The  difficulties  with  which  Parker, 
at  this  period  of  his  life,  had  to  contend,  related  to  the 
amount  of  concessions  which  policy  demanded,  sometimes 
at  an  apparent  relinquishment  of  principle.  The  conform- 
ing Puritans  were  violent  on  the  subject  of  these  con- 
cessions ;  but  by  degrees,  as  Parker  expected,  Church 
principles  even  among  them  gained  the  ascendency. 

Parker  felt  that  it  was  very  important,  before  entering 
upon  his  sacred  office,  to  ascertain  the  real  condition  o 
the  English  Church ;  he  determined  therefore,  by  callin 
into  action  the  royal  prerogative,  in  conjunction  with  hi 
authority  as  metropolitan  elect,  to  appoint  a  lay  com 


aw 
2e 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  225 

mission  to  report  to  the  crown  on  the  state  of  the  Church,     chap. 
In  doing  this  he  certainly  invested  the  commission  with  < — ,  *-> 
powers  scarcely  consistent  with  those  principles  of  the     PaiLiT 
Church,  which  he  was   labouring  to  uphold.     But  the    1559-75. 
case  was  exceptional  and  temporary,  and  he  was   not 
establishing  a  precedent.     Neither  he  nor  the  queen  ob- 
jected to  the  exercise  of  despotic  power,  when  the  oppo- 
sition they  met  with  was  organized  by  faction,  not  being 
the  mere  result  of  an  unenlightened  conscience.     It  was  Establish- 
on  this  ground," we  may  presume,  that  he  consented  to  the  court°of e 
establishment  of  the  Court  of  High  Commission.     The  H!^Com- 

D_       _  mission. 

powers  of  this  court  were  at  first  judiciously  employed 
in  upholding  the  laws  of  the  state  and  the  canons  of  the 
Church,  when  in  a  revolutionary  age  extraordinary  power 
was  required  for  these  purposes  ;  but  the  commission  in 
the  end,  when  it  was  enlarged  and  fully  organized,  became 
as  tyrannical  in  practice  as  it  was  unsound  in  principle. 

The  commissioners,  though  appointed  by  the  queen,  re-  injunc- 
ceived  their  instructions  from  Parker.     These  instructions  toTh/1™11 
were  embodied  in  certain  injunctions  drawn  up  by  the  c?mmis- 

°  r      "  sioners. 

archbishop  elect,  but  enforced  by  royalty.  In  drawing 
them  up,  Parker  called  in  the  advice  of  Cecil,  and  by  him 
the  injunctions  were  carefully  revised.  The  commissioners 
were  to  require  wherever  they  went,  and  from  all  func- 
tionaries, a  recognition  of  the  royal  supremacy.  The 
Puritans  were  conciliated  by  a  denunciation  of  a  super- 
stitious reverence  for  images,  relics,  and  miracles  ;  on 
which  point  the  commissioners  were  to  make  minute 
inquiries.  They  were  also  to  censure  pilgrimages,  the 
setting  up  of  candles,  and  praying  upon  beads.  For 
reasons  before  assigned,  many  of  the  clergy  were  unable 
to  preach  or  write  their  own  sermons  :  they  were  to  be 
required  to  procure  a  sermon,  each  rector  in  his  church, 
at  least  once  a  quarter  :  upon  other  Sundays,  unless  a 

VOL.  IX.  Q 


226  lives  of  Tin: 

chap,     licensed  preacher  could  be  procured,  a  homily  was  to  be 
• — r-^—   read.     Every  parish  was  required  to  procure  a  Bible,  of 
Parker,     the  largest  volume,  in  English,  together  with  the  para- 
15,59-75.    phrases,  also  in  English,  of  Erasmus.     The  policy  of  thus 
authorizing  the  paraphrases  of  Erasmus  is  at  once  apparent. 
Parker's  desire  was,  whilst  sanctioning  a  deviation  from 
practices  which  had   been   abused   to   superstition,  and 
whilst  requiring  men  to  search  the  Scriptures,  like  the 
good   Bereans,   to   see   "  whether   these  things   be  so," 
nevertheless,  to  make  it  apparent  that  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  Scripture,  his  teaching  was  in  accordance  with 
that  of  a  Catholic  divine,  who,  though  a  friend  of  reform, 
had  never  been  a  Protestant. 

Although  an  affectation  of  skill  in  singing  was  not  to 
be  carried  too  far,  still  the  Common  Prayer  was  to  be 
distinctly  sung.     Choirs  were  to  be  kept  up,  and  lands 
dedicated  for  their  support  were  to  be  secured  to  the 
church,  while,  for  the  satisfaction  of  those  who  had 
taste  for  sacred  music,  an  anthem  was  to  be    allowed. 
During  the  performance  of  Divine  Service  all  the  cus 
tomary  marks  of  reverence  were  to  be  strictly  observed. 
The  Litany  was  to  be  sung,  and  the  people,  when  repea 
ing  the  responses,  were  required  devoutly  and  humbl 
to  kneel  upon  their  knees ;  and  whensoever  the  name  o 
Jesus  was   pronounced,  either  in   a  sermon   or   in   th 
offices  of  the  Church,  due  reverence  was  to  be  made  b 
all  persons,  young  and  old,  "with  lowness  of  courtesy 
and  uncovering  of  heads  of  the  men  kind."  *     Eegiste 

*  See  Collier,  vi.  256.     Strype  and  Cardwell  seem  to  think  that  the 
injunctions  were  drawn  up  by  the  commission  of  divines  which  sat  ii 
Canon  Row.     It  is  more  than  doubtful,  however,  whether  they,  as 
body,  would  have  given  their  assent  to  all  the  injunctions.     We  ma] 
with  more  confidence  attribute  them  to  Parker  and  Cecil ;  the  latt* 
we  know  revised  them. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  227 

of  weddings,  christenings,  and  burials,  as  enjoined  in  the     chap. 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  were  to  be  carefully  kept. 

The  commissioners  were  empowered,  upon  exami- 
nation, to  annul  spiritual  promotions,  if  they  had  not 
been  legally  made ;  and  to  call  for  an  exhibition  of  let- 
ters of  orders — a  power  still  retained  by  churchwardens. 
Although  these  powers  were  ample,  there  was  no  desire 
to  see  them  applied  to  the  purposes  of  persecution ;  they 
were  permitted  to  discharge  persons  who  had  been  com- 
mitted to  prison  for  their  religion,  and  to  restore  such 
as  had  been  illegally  displaced.  They  were  to  allow  pen- 
sions to  those  who,  refusing  the  oath  of  supremacy,  deter- 
mined to  quit  their  livings- — these  were  wise  and  merciful 
provisions,  which  ought  to  be  recorded  to  the  credit  of 
Elizabeth  and  her  advisers  :  and  the  wisdom  of  the  regu- 
lations was  apparent  in  the  fact,  that  very  few  of  the  bene- 
ficed clergy  refused  to  conform.  The  principle  of  Parker 
and  Cecil  was  not  to  oust  the  Catholics  ;  but  to  compel 
the  Catholics,  being  in  possession,  to  tolerate  Protestants. 

The  report  of  the  commission  was  on  the  whole  satis- 
factory ;  the  temper,  if  not  the  learning,  of  the  clergy 
being  such  as  was  desired.  It  was  reported,  that  the 
commissioners  found  both  clergy  and  laity  "  eager  for  the 
abolition  of  foreign  jurisdiction,  both  in  spiritual  matters 
and  in  temporal."  The  general  feeling  was  in  favour 
of  the  restoration  of  the  crown  of  England  to  its  rightful 
supremacy,  and  to  the  administration  of  the  Sacraments 
and  Order  of  Divine  Service  as  set  forth  in  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer.* 

There  exists  among  the  MSS.  of  the  palace  of  Lambeth 
a  scroll  of  parchment  containing  a  long  list  of  the  clergy 
who  subscribed  to  this  statement  in  some  of  the  dioceses, 
and  this  may  be  regarded  as  a  sample  of  the  whole.     It 

*   Strype's  Annals,  I.  i.  255. 
Q  2 


228  lives  of  Tin: 

chap,  is  not  to  be  supposed,  of  course,  that  all  who  subscribed 
did  so  with  the  same  goodwill ;  motives  are  at  all  times 
varied  and  mixed ;  but  the  fact  was  now  made  known  to 
Parker,  that  in  many  places,  where  he  had  not  expected 
support,  he  would  not  meet  with  opposition.  From  the 
deprived  diocesans  he  no  longer  had  to  fear  an  effective 
opposition.  Many  of  them  he  respected  and  loved  for 
their  piety  and  virtue,  and  he  retained  their  friendship 
till  the  hour  of  their  death  ;  nevertheless  he  had  become 
aware,  that  the  regulars  withholding  their  support,  he  must 
depend  for  learning,  zeal,  and  piety  upon  the  Protestants. 
Parker  was  now  preparing  for  his  consecration.  It 
is  customary  for  the  bishop  elect,  with  the  consent  of 
the  metropolitan,  to  make  choice  of  the  prelates  to 
officiate  at  his  consecration.  In  the  present  case,  the 
primacy  being  vacant,  there  were  exceptional  difficulties 
to  be  encountered  and  overcome.  By  the  cautious  mind 
of  Parker,  every  step  to  be  taken  was  carefully  con- 
sidered, and,  whenever  it  was  necessary,  legal  advice  was 
obtained.  He  felt  that,  while,  on  the  one  hand,  he  must 
be  particular  in  following  precedent,  from  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  her  repu- 
diation of  papal  authority,  he  would,  to  a  certain  extent, 
be  establishing  a  precedent. 

It  might  have  saved  some  controversy,  although  it 
would  have  prevented  much  profitable  investigation,  if 
historians  had  always  borne  in  mind,  that  what  may  be 
necessary  to  render  a  consecration  legal — that  is,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  laws  of  a  nation — may  not,  when 
regarded  from  only  an  ecclesiastical  point  of  view,  be 
absolutely  necessary  to  render  a  consecration  valid.  We 
have  already  remarked,  but  must  here  repeat,  that  in  the 
case  of  Parker,  his  consecration  would  not  have  been 
legal,  i.e.  it  would  not  have  been  in  accordance  with  the 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  229 

enactments  of  the  English  Parliament,  if  he   had  been     chap. 

.  VIII 

consecrated  by  only  three  bishops,  because  the  English  * — r— ^ 
law,  in  its  carefulness  to  preserve  the  apostolical  succes-     Parker, 
sion,  has  determined,  by  way  of  extra  precaution,  that    1559-75. 
while,  for  the  consecration  of  a  bishop,  three  prelates  in 
episcopal  orders,  the  metropolitan  being  one,  must  offi- 
ciate, not  fewer  than  four  must  co-operate  in  the  consecra- 
tion of  a  metropolitan  himself.*     In  any  country  in  which 
such  a  law  is  not  in  force,  the  consecration  of  a  metropo- 
litan by  only  three  bishops  would  of  course  be  valid,  and, 
in  the  absence  of  any  law  upon  the  subject,  not  illegal. 
A  consecration  conducted  by  only  one   bishop,  though  Consecra- 
contrary  to  the  canons  of  the  universal  Church,  which  b7shop°ne 
require  the  administration  of  this  holy  ordinance  by  three  valid* 
bishops  at  least,  would  be  regarded  as  irregular,  and  un- 
canonical,  but  not  invalid.    The  reason  why  three  bishops 
are  required  to  officiate,  is  to  prevent  clandestine  conse- 
crations ;  and,  in  the  old  Eoman  law,  "  tres  faciunt  colle- 
gium.'"    It  was  ordered  therefore,  in  future  times,  that 
consecrations  should  be  performed  by  a  college  of  bishops.f 

*  The  statute  25  Henry  VIII.  requires  the  presence  of  the  metro- 
politan and  two  bishops ;   or,  without  the  metropolitan,  four  bishops. 

■f  The  reader  who  would  investigate  this  subject  is  referred  to 
Bingham,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xi.  §  6.  This  learned  writer  establishes  the  fact, 
that  the  consecration  of  a  bishop  by  only  one  bishop  was  regarded 
valid,  if  proof  were  brought  before  the  church  that  the  consecration 
took  place  with  the  essential  ceremonies ;  although,  to  prevent  scandal, 
they  would  prohibit  such  a  bishop  from  officiating  until  he  had 
obtained  a  special  licence  from  the  primate  of  his  church.  Bingham 
also  proves  that  the  Bishop  of  Rome  had  no  more  privilege  in  this  re- 
spect than  any  other  prelate.  See  also  Con.  Arelatensis,  Can.  i.  et  ii.  • 
Catalani  Commentarius,  torn.  i.  tit.  xiii.  289-383 ;  Bellarmine,  De 
Notis  Ecclesiae,  cap.  viii. ;  and  Vasquez,  In  Disputationibus,  pars  iii, 
ccxlviii.  cap.  vii.  These  are  spoken  of  "  as  co-operators,  or  assistant 
consecrators,  in  the  ancient  canons,  and,  together  with  the  chief  bishop 
they  convey  the  episcopal  character."    For  the  practice  of  the  "Western 


230 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew 

Parkor. 

1559-75. 


Vacant 
bishops. 


Suffragan 
bishops. 


Although  among  the  bishops  contemporary  with 
Parker,  there  could  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  validity  of 
their  orders,  and  of  their  having  become,  through  their 
respective  consecrations,  bishops  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
there  were  several  whose  right  to  act,  as  diocesans  in  the 
Church  of  England,  might  be  disputed.  Some  there  were 
who  had  been  unlawfully  deprived  of  their  sees,  and 
others  who  were  never  at  any  time  called  to  preside  over  a 
diocese.  They  might,  as  bishops  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
discharge  their  episcopal  functions,  consecrate,  ordain, 
confirm,  and  administer  the  sacraments  in  any  part  of  the 
world  ;  but  they  may  have  had  no  diocesan  jurisdiction 
assigned  to  them  ;  and  they  might  be  subjected  to  legal 
penalties  for  officiating  in  a  diocese  without  the  permis- 
sion of  the  diocesan.  They  may  have  conferred  the  grace, 
but,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which  they  stood, 
they  might  have  been  punished  for  doing  so. 

The  episcopate  in  England  at  this  time  consisted,  to  a 
great  extent,  of  what  are  technically  called  "vacant- 
bishops,"  or,  as  they  were  styled  in  the  Greek  Church, 
s7rl(rxo7roi  <7£oAa£Ws£, — bishops  who  had  resigned  their 
sees,  or  who  had  been  unlawfully  deprived  of  them,  some 
by  King  Edward,  others  by  Queen  Mary ;  or  who  had 
never  been  in  possession  of  a  see,  as  was  the  case,  and  is 
still  the  case,  with  suffragan  bishops. 

We  ourselves  live  at  a  time  when  the  primitive  system 

Church  it  will  be  enough  to  refer  to  Sir  William  Palmer's  Essay;  i.  372. 
The  authority  for  "  vacant  bishops  "  to  officiate  in  the  church  is  shown 
by  Balsatnon  and  Zonaras  on  the  eighteenth  canon  of  Antioch.  Tho- 
massin  (Eccles.  Disc.)  describes  their  origin  and  details  their  duties. 
It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  among  his  infringements 
of  the  canons  and  canon  law  of  the  Church,  claims  to  consecrate  without 
assistance.  But  this  may  be  doubted.  A  consecration  by  the  pope  in 
the  Middle  Ages  was  very  rare.  Consecrations  in  the  Curia  were 
usually  performed  by  the  Bishop  of  Ostia,  other  cardinals  assisting. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  231 

has  been  partially  revived,  of  having  suffragan  bishops  to     chap. 

assist  diocesan  bishops.*     The  title  of  suffragan  in  this  « ,— 1^ 

connection  is  an  unfortunate  one,  because  it  leads  to  a  Parker!" 
confusion  of  ideas.  All  the  bishops  of  a  province  are  the  1559-75. 
suffragans,  and  are  so  called,  of  the  archbishop.  In  the 
Eomish  Church,  a  nominal  diocese,  in  partibus  injidelium, 
is  sometimes  assigned  to  these  "  vacant  bishops,"  the  only 
bishops  the  Romish  dissenters  had  in  England  until  the 
time  of  Dr.  Wiseman,  who  was  himself  consecrated  to  a 
see  he  never  saw,  and  of  which  few  persons  had  ever 
heard.  There  are  also  now,  as  in  Parker's  time,  many 
prelates  who,  like  Bishop  Maltby,  Bishop  Blomfield,  and 
Bishop  Sumner,  incapacitated  by  illness  or  old  age,  have 
retired  from  diocesan  duties,  although  they  still  retain  all 
the  powers  and  prerogatives  of  the  episcopate.  Those 
s7ri<rxo7roi  <ryj>7^dfy>vTss  who  have  retired  from  diocesan 
duties  in  the  colonies,  still  exercise  their  episcopal  func- 
tions ;  and  are  often  employed  in  rendering  assistance  to 
their  brethren  whose  dioceses  in  the  mother  country  have 
become  so  large  that,  without  such  assistance,  they  could 
not  adequately  discharge  the  episcopal  functions,  beyond 
that  of  general  superintendence. f 

It   should   be    borne   in  mind   that   bishops  were  in  Episcopal 
existence  before  dioceses  were  established.     The  bound-  £  over  a 
aries   of  dioceses   were   limits   of  convenience   for   the  Partlcular 

see,  one 

preservation   of  order   in   peaceful  times.     The  powers  thins; 
that   a  man   possessed  as   a   bishop  were,   for  the  con-  authority, 

another 
*  For  our  permission  to  exercise  this  undoubted  right  of  the  Church,   thing, 
we  are  indebted  to  the  wisdom  and  piety  of  the  present  prime  minister, 
Mr.  Gladstone. 

f  For  an  account  of  the  e-irtcrKoirot  cr^oXa^ovrfc,  see  Suicer,  1204,  and 
also  1178.  Useful  as  Suicer  is,  he  is  not  to  be  compared  to  our 
Bingham,  and  to  the  latter  we  may  refer,  i.  140.  The  student  of 
theology  cannot  begin  his  studies  more  profitably  than  by  devoting 
his  attention  to  Bingham,  verifying,  as  far  as  can  be,  his  authorities. 


232  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,  venience  of  the  Church,  to  be  exercised  under  such  re- 
— ^_—  gulations  as  the  Church,  in  the  aggregate  or  in  its 
Parked  branches,  might  see  fit  to  make.  Without  questioning 
1559-75.  the  validity  of  his  act,  a  prelate,  if  he  were  intentionally 
to  violate  the  canons  enacted  by  the  universal  or  by  a 
provincial  Church,  would,  without  any  denial  of  his 
orders,  be  subjected  to  ecclesiastical  punishment.  We 
may  understand  this  more  clearly  by  reference  to  the 
ministrations  of  the  second  order  in  the  sacred  ministry. 
If  a  priest  were  to  administer  the  Holy  Communion  to  a 
sick  person  in  another  man's  parish,  factum  valet,  so  far 
as  the  recipient  of  sacramental  grace  is  concerned  ;  but 
the  officiating  priest,  having  violated  a  law  of  the  Church, 
might  be  subjected  to  a  fine  or  to  censure.  In  like 
manner,  if  a  bishop  were  to  confirm  without  permission, 
in  the  diocese  of  another  prelate,  he  might  by  the 
metropolitan  be  called  to  account.  In  order,  therefore, 
to  enforce  the  necessary  discipline  among  men  who,  so 
far  as  their  orders  are  concerned,  are  equal,  in  every 
provincial  or  national  Church  one  of  the  prelates  is 
vested  with  the  powers  of  primacy,  to  protect  the 
Church  from  confusion.  The  canonists  are  only  carry- 
ing out  this  principle  when,  having  insisted  on  canonical 
regulations,  they  remind  us,  that  these  regulations  do  not 
interfere  with  that  superintendence  of  the  whole  Catholic 
Church,  in  which  each  bishop  has  an  equal  share,  not  as 
to  what  concerns  external  polity  and  government,  but  as 
to  what  relates  to  the  prime  essential  part  of  religion — 
the  preservation,  in  its  purity,  of  the  Christian  faith. 
"  Whenever,"  says  Bingham,  "  the  faith  was  in  danger  of 
being  subverted  by  heresy,  or  destroyed  by  persecution, 
then  [in  the  primitive  Church,  to  which  Parker  looked  for 
his  precedents]  every  bishop  thought  it  part  of  his  duty 
and  office  [as  opportunity  occurred]  to  put  to  his  helping 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  2)3 

hand,  and  labour  as  much  for  any  other  diocese  as  for     chap. 

his  own  [if  a  diocese  he  had]."  *  ^_^ 

A  bishop's  power,  including  the  power  of  ordination,  parkerT 
the  potestas  ordinis,  is  one  thing  ;  the  authority  of  a  dio-  1559-75. 
cesan,  or  the  potestas  jurisdictionis^  is  another  thing.  The 
diocesan  powers  are  conferred  to  prevent  the  ordinary 
episcopal  power  from  being  so  exercised  as  to  cause  a 
schism.  In  like  manner  a  prisoner  of  war  on  parole  may 
walk  where  he  pleases,  if  the  question  be  simply  as  to  his 
power  of  walking  ;  but  if  he  walks  beyond  a  certain 
given  point,  his  captors  have  a  right  to  punish  him  as  a 
perjured  person.  When  a  diocesan  refused  to  exercise 
the  powers  divinely  conferred  upon  him  for  the  good  of 
the  people,  then  also,  according  to  primitive  practice, 
another  bishop  might  •  interfere.  For  the  better  under- 
standing of  the  practice  of  the  primitive  Church  on  this 
point,  Bingham  refers  us  to  a  few  particular  instances. 
It  was  a  rule  in  the  primitive  Church,  that  no  bishop 
should  ordain  in  the  diocese  of  another  without  his  per- 
mission. Although  this  was  a  limitation  of  the  episcopal 
power  to  a  single  diocese,  yet,  for  the  sake  of  order,  it 
was  canonically  enforced  and  generally  observed.  But  it 
might  happen  that  a  diocesan  would  become  a  heretic, 
and  would  ordain  none  but  heretical  clergy,  persecuting 
the  orthodox  and  driving  them  away.  In  that  case  it 
was  noted,  that  any  Catholic  bishop,  as  being  a  bishop 
of  the  Church  universal,  was  in  such  diocese  authorized 
to  ordain  orthodox  men.  It  was  in  one  sense  contrary 
to  rule  ;  but  then  it  was  in  accordance  with  the  supreme 
rule  of  all — the  preservation  of  the  faith.  When  the 
Church  was  in  danger  of  being  overrun  with  Arianism, 

*  The  testimony  of  St.  Augustine,  of  Cyprian,  of  Gregory  Nazian- 
zen,  of  St.  Basil,  St.  Chrysostom  and  others,  with  their  corresponding 
conduct,  may  be  seen,  quoted  or  described,  in  Bingham,  ii.  cap.  5,  §  1. 


234  LIVES    OF   THE 

chap,    the  great  Athanasius,  on  his  return  from  exile,  did  not 

VIII  . 

— ^— '  hesitate,  in  the  several  cities  through  which  he  passed,  to 
Parker,  ordain  presbyters,*  although  those  cities  were  not  under 
1559-75.  his  jurisdiction.  The  celebrated  Eusebius  of  SamosciUi 
acted  precisely  in  the  same  manner  in  the  time  of  the  Arian 
persecution  under  Yalens.f  Although  in  peaceful  times 
he  officiated  in  the  episcopal  vestments,  yet  now,  according 
to  Theodoret,  he  went  about  Syria,  Phoenicia,  and  Pales- 
tine in  a  soldier's  habit,  ordaining  presbyters  and  deacons, 
and  setting  in  order  the  things  he  found  wanting  in  the 
churches.  Thus  arrayed,  he  consecrated  bishops  also  in 
Syria,  Cilicia,  and  other  places,  whose  names  Theodoret 
has  recorded*  All  this  was  contrary  to  strict  rule  ;  but 
was  not  in  violation  of  the  principles  of  the  Church,  when 
to  the  strict  rule  the  necessities  of  the  Church  demanded 
an  exception  to  be  made*  The  Church  might  suspend  a 
regulation  made  for  the  sake  of  order,  but  it  could  not 
exist  without  a  clergy  who  could  prove,  through  apostoli- 
cal succession,  their  right  to  act  as  ambassadors  from  God 
to  man.  In  a  similar  case,  Epiphanius  J  exercised  the 
same  power,  and  asserted  the  like  privilege.  Having 
ordained  Paulianus,  first  a  deacon  and  then  a  presbyter, 
in  a  diocese  of  which  he  was  not  the  diocesan,  he  was 
reproached  for  having  acted  contrary  to  the  canon,  and 
he  vindicated  his  conduct  on  the  principle  now  advanced, 
viz.  that  in  cases  of  pressing  necessity,  when  the  interest 
of  the  Church  was  concerned,  every  bishop  had  authority 
to  exercise,  when  required,  the  potestas  or  dims  conferred 
upon  him  at  his  consecration. 

To  meet  the  various  controversies  started  from  opposite 
quarters,  relating  to  Parker's  consecration,  I  have  con- 
sidered it  expedient  to  refer  occasionally  to  these  facts, 

*  Socrates,  ii.  cap.  24.  f  Theodoret,  iv.  13. 

J  Epiphan.  Ep.  ad  Johan. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  235 

well  known  as  they  must  be  to  the  student  of  ecclesiastical  chap. 
history.  Several  suggestions  must  have  been  presented 
to  Parker's  mind,  when,  watched  from  two  opposite 
quarters,  he  was  considering  how  he  could  best  maintain,  1559-75. 
under  circumstances  of  peculiar  difficulty,  the  Catholic  and 
primitive  principles  to  which  he  professed  a  loyal  adher- 
ence. But  to  any  extreme  measures  he  had  no  occasion 
to  resort :  he  had  only  to  follow  precedent,  except  where 
precedent,  of  a  comparatively  modern  establishment,  re- 
cognized the  papal  usurpation.  He  had  to  reject  the 
tiara  and  to  give  its  clue  weight  to  the  crown*  and  then 
all  was  easy  ;  he  passed  at  once  from  medieval  corruption 
to  primitive  orthodoxy. 

A  majority  of  the  sees  were  vacant.     The  vacancies  had  vacancies 

.  ,    .  .  111  the  sees. 

been  occasioned  in  several  instances,  as  we  have  seen, 
by  the  deaths  of  the  incumbents.*  That  the  bishops  who 
were  deposed  for  not  taking  the  oath  of  supremacy, 
were  legally  deposed  on  principles  admitted  by  the 
Church,f  Parker  entertained  no  doubt.     There  were  at 

*  Although  it  is  said  by  Hecker,  that  "  the  sweating  sickness  had 
vanished  from  the  earth  in  1551,"  the  country  was  certainly  long 
after  in  a  very  unhealthy  state.  At  the  time  of  Mary's  death  there  was 
undoubtedly  some  fearful  epidemic  prevailing,  which  was  not  extinct 
in  1560,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  cautions  drawn  up  by  Cecil  for 
Queen  Elizabeth's  apparel  and  diet.  Among  other  things,  he  suggests 
that  she  admit  of  no  perfume  on  her  apparel  or  gloves,  and  that  she 
take  advice  of  her  physicians  for  receiving  twice  every  week  "  some 
preservative  contra  pestem  et  venena"  See  Haynes's  State  Papers, 
p.  368. 

f  Innumerable  instances,  says  Sir  William  Palmer,  occur  in  the 
history  of  the  primitive  Church,  in  which  schismatical,  heretical,  and 
intruding  bishops  were  expelled  by  the  temporal  power.  Thus,  the 
Emperor  Gratian  made  a  law  expelling  the  Arian  prelates,  and  restoring 
the  orthodox  to  their  sees. — Theodoret,  v.  2.  The  usurper  Theodosius 
and  Peter  the  Fuller  were  expelled  from  the  see  of  Jerusalem  and 
Antioch  respectively  by  the  Emperors.  See  other  instances  in  Episcopacy 
Vindicated. 


236  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,    this  time  seven  bishops  in  England  who  favoured 

-  Keformation.     There  were  ten  who  were  opposed  to  it,* 


Matthew- 
Parker. 


I 


Of 

s 


but  the  number  of  the  Eeformation  prelates  was  increased 

1559-75.    by  t]ie  irisn  bishops,  of  whose  services,  since  they  ac 

ceded  to  the   Eeformation,   Parker  might  have  availe 

himself.     He  had,  therefore,  a  sufficient  choice,  and 

was  his  wish  at  first  to  have  each  branch  of  the  Church 

in  the  queen's  dominions  represented — English,  Irish,  and 

Welsh.f 

William  After  due  consideration  he  selected  the  late  Bishop  of 

B^hop-      Bath  and  Wells,  now  about  to  be  translated  to  Chiche 

^  °f       ter,  to  preside  at  his  consecration,  and  to  take  that  pa 

ter,  chosen  in  the  ceremonial  which,  under  ordinary  circumstanc 

at  Parker's  would  have  devolved  upon  the  metropolitan. 

consecra-         Parker  was  not  above  the  consideration  of  worldly 

influences,  and  in  selecting  Bishop  Barlow,  at  a  time  when 

the  courtiers  were  doing  what  in  them  lay  to  bring  the 

clergy  into  contempt,  he  made  choice  of  a  man  who  held 

a  high  position  in  society.     Bishop  Barlow  was  a  privy 

councillor,  and   had  been  eminent  as   a  statesman  and 

diplomatist ;   having    been  employed   in    the    reigns   of 

Henry  VIII.,  of  Queen  Mary,  of  Edward  VI.,  and 

Queen  Elizabeth,  in  affairs  of  great  importance. 

Of  Barlow's   early  history   we   know  but   little. 
Welsh  extraction,  he  was  born  in  Essex.     He  received 
his  primary  education  at  St.  Osyth's,  a  monastery  in  his 

*  Parker  had  ample  precedent  for  his  proceedings,  several  of  his 
predecessors  having  been  consecrated  by  their    suffragans,  as  was  th 
case  with  his  immediate  predecessors,  Pole  and  Cranmer. 

f  Seven  bishops,  including  Bale,  Bishop  of  Ossory,  were  named  in 
the  second  commission  for  Parker's  consecration.  Omitting  the  Bishop 
of  Ossory,  who  did  not  obey  the  summons,  or  was  prevented  from 
poming  by  Parker,  and  adding  the  name  of  the  Bishop  of  Sodor  and 
Man,  who,  like  the  Bishop  of  LlandafF,  Dr.  Kitchin,  conformed,  there 
remained  seven  bishops  who  acquiesced  in  the  Elizabethan  reformation. 
See  Haddan,  p.  222. 


: 


" 


I 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  237 

native  county,  and   completed   it   at  the    University  of    chap. 
Oxford,  where  he  became  a  Doctor  of  Divinity.     Return- 
ing to  Essex,  he  became  a  canon  regular  at  St.  Osyth's, 
and  held  various  official  appointments  in  connection  with    1559~75. 
that  house,  until  we  find  him,  in  1527,  prior  of  Bisham 
in  Berkshire. 

He  declared  himself  on  the  side  of  the  Eeformation  in  His  favour 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. ;  and  when  Crumwell  had  deter-  ciumweii. 
mined  on  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries,  that  minister 
found  an  able,  zealous,  and  generous  supporter  in  Barlow, 
who  not  only  resigned  his  own  monastery,  but  procured 
several  abbots  and  priors,  his  neighbours,  to  follow  his 
example.  A  man  so  energetic  in  action,  and  possessing 
the  important  talent  of  being  able  to  influence  other  men, 
was  not  likely  to  be  neglected  by  Crumwell ;  and  when, 
through  his  instrumentality,  Barlow  was  introduced  at 
court,  he  soon  commended  himself  to  the  notice  of  the 
king.  He  was  sent  by  King  Henry,  early  in  1536,  with 
Lord  Robert  Howard  into  Scotland  as  ambassador,  and 
from  a  letter  now  before  me,  sent  to  Crumwell,  we  learn 
that  the  object  of  his  mission  was  to  amend,  if  possible, 
"  the  disordered  state  of  the  border."  In  a  letter 
from  Henry  VIII.  to  James  V.,  the  king  speaks  of  Barlow 
as  his  "  well-beloved  counsellor,  Win.  Barlow,  suf- 
ficiently instructed  in  the  specialities  of  certain  Weighty 
cases." 

The  reader  of  these  volumes  will  remember,  that  it  was 
by  the  bestowal  of  ecclesiastical  preferments  that  lawyers 
sought  to  remunerate  their  servants,  and  the  system  was 
not  yet  superseded.    Accordingly,  Barlow's  remuneration  Bariow  j8 
came  in  the  shape  of  a  nomination  to  the  see  of  Saint  ^fec^d  of 
Asaph.    He  was  elected  Bishop  of  Saint  Asaph  by  author-  Saint 
ity  of  a  conge  d'elire,  dated  the  7th  of  January,  1535-6.*  Jan.  1536. 

*  Bramhall,    Pref.    Foedera,    xiv.    558.      There   is   an  account   of 
Barlow  in  Wood's  Athenae.     Several  letters  from  liim  and  to  him  are 


238  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap.     Being  at  this  time  detained  in  Scotland  by  his  diplomatic 

VIII.  . 

-   «  '  -  duties,  he  was  necessarily  confirmed  by  proxy   on  the 
Parker.     22nd  or  23rd  of  February.*     While  Barlow  was   sti 


i 


1569-75.    jn  Edinburgh  he   received  intelligence  of  the  death 

Eawlins,  Bishop  of  Saint  David's,  and  he  applied,  or  hi 

friends  for  him,  that  he  might  be  translated  to  the  more 

Elected       lucrative  bishopric.     He  was  elected  to  Saint  David's  on 

spcraTed"     tne  l^tn  °f  April*  an(l  the  royal  assent  to  the  election  was 

Bishop  of    granted  on  the  25th  of  the  same  month. f     On  the  26th 

Saint  &  ,  ' 

David's,  he  was  invested  with  the  temporalities  of  the  see. J  He 
had  evidently  hastened  from  Scotland,  in  furtherance  of 
his  object,  and  on  the  21st  of  April  he  was  confirmed  in 
person  in  Bow  Church. 

Immediately  afterwards  he  resumed  his  secular  duties, 
and  he  remained  in  Scotland  till  the  month  of  June.§ 
On  the  30th  of  June  he  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  in  the  upper  house  of  Convocation. 
Translated  On  the  3rd  of  February,  1548-9,  Barlow  was  translated 
of  Bath66  to  tne  see  °f  Bath  and  Wells.  Besides  being  eminent  as  a 
statesman,  Bishop  Barlow  was  respected  by  his  brothers 
on  the  episcopal  bench  as  a  theologian  and  divine.  Arch- 
bishop Cranmer  complained  of  him  as  being  too  jocose, 
and  apt  to  bring  serious  matters  to  the  test  of  ridicule ; 
but  he  could  not  have  been  a  light-minded  man  who  was 
consulted  on  the  composition  of  one  of  the  most  important 
books  of  the  age.     Bishop  Barlow  was  concerned  in  the 

to  be  found  in  the  State  Papers,  and  others  in  the  Suppression  of  the 
Monasteries,  published  by  the  Camden  Society. 

*  The  archbishop's    commission   to  confirm  is  dated  the    22nd    of 
February,  and  his  certificate  to  the  king  of  confirmation,  the  23rd.    Th( 
date  of  the  confirmation  itself  is  omitted. — Cranmer's  Eegist. 

t  Cranmer's  Eegist.  J  Mason,  iii.  10,  §  2. 

§  Owing  to  the  loss  of  the  registers  the  exact  day  of  Barlow's  coi 
secration  is  not  known.     Professor  Stubbs,  whose  authority  few  will  be 
found  to  question,  places  it  on  the  11th  of  June. 


and  Wells. 
1549. 


- 

>n- 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  239 

authorship  of  The  Godly  and   Pious  Meditations  of  a     °MjF- 
Christian  Man,  which  is  commonly   called  the  Bishops'  ^rr-^ — ' 

J  L  Matthew 

Book.     Moreover,  in  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  he     Parker. 
was  considered  so  good  a  scholar,  that  to  him  the  Church    lo59~7°- 
was  indebted  for  a  revision  of  the  apocryphal  Book  of 
Wisdom. 

On  the  accession  of  Queen  Mary,  Bishop  Barlow  gave  Resigns  his 
proof  of  his  sincerity  by  resigning  his  bishopric  of  Bath  on  the  ac- 
and  Wells.     Being  a  married  prelate,  he  anticipated  de-  q*™™  ° 
privation  under  the  new  law ;  and  he  thought  it  expe-  Mary- 
dient  not  to  involve   himself  in  unnecessary  difficulties 
by  offering  an  unavailing  opposition.*     He  determined  to 
quit  the  country,  and  availed  himself  of  the  facilities  of 
self-exile  offered  at  the  beginning   of  Mary's   reign,  to 
persons  who   declined  to  conform   to  the  ecclesiastical 
regulations  then  introduced. 

Barlow  chose  a  residence  in  Germany,  for  he  had  no  He  is  ap- 
sympathy  with  Calvinism.      By  this  circumstance  he  was  the  see  of 
commended  to  the  notice  of  the  queen  and  of  Cecil,  when,  i559.esteE 
on  the  death  of  Mary,  the  exiles  returned  to  their  native 
land.     Instead  of  seeking,  however,  a  restoration  to  the 
bishopric  of  Bath  and  Wells,  he  sought  for  and  obtained 
a  translation  to  the  see  of  Chichester.f 

*  Dr.  Lingard  says  he  was  thrown  into  prison,  and  sarcastically 
remarks  that,  "  feeling  no  desire  of  the  crown  of  martyrdom,  he 
professed  himself  a  sincere  penitent,  and  resigned  his  bishopric."  He 
gives  no  authority  for  this  statement,  and,  judging  from  what  we  know 
of  Barlow's  history,  we  should  doubt  his  expressing  his  penitence — if 
it  is  meant  that  he  repented  of  the  part  he  had  taken  as  a  bishop  in 
the  Reformation.  Unless  proof  be  adduced,  we  should  even  doubt  the 
accuracy  of  the  statement  that  he  was  imprisoned.  The  policy  of 
Mary's  government  at  the  beginning  of  her  reign  was  to  try  lenient 
measures  before  resorting  to  persecution. 

f  Eighty  years  after  these  events,  it  was  discovered  that  in  Cranmer's 
registers,  through  the  carelessness  of  the  registrar,  several  entries  were 
omitted.     The  same  fact  is  to  be  predicated,  and  for  the  same  cause, 


240 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 

The  three 
bishops 
who  joined 
with  Bar- 
low in 
consecrat- 
ing Parker. 


Co-operating  with  Bishop  Barlow,  formerly  Bishop 
Bath  and  Wells,  now  elect  of  Chichester,  were  John 
Hodgkins,  Suffragan  Bishop  of  Bedford  ;  Miles  Coverdale, 
late  Bishop  of  Exeter ;  and  John  Scory,  Bishop  elect  of 
Hereford* 


Pi 


with  respect  to  the  registers  of  Archbishop  Warham,  the  predecessor, 
and  of  Cardinal  Pole,  the  successor,  of  Archbishop  Cranmer.  Cranmer'* 
register  is  a  collection  of  various  parchment  documents,  different  in 
kind,  size,  and  character,  all  bound  together  long  after  the  legal  murder 
of  the  archbishop.  They  are  in  several  respects  imperfect — the  very 
opposite  in  every  respect  to  Parker's  register.  Out  of  the  record  of 
eleven  translations  in  Cranmer's  register,  five  are  wanting.  Of  forty- 
five  consecrations  at  which  Cranmer  presided,  the  records  of  no  less 
than  nine  are  not  to  be  found.  Of  these  nine  which  are  wanting, 
there  is  no  reference  whatever  of  any  kind  to  three.  Five  of  them,  of 
which  Barlow's  is  one,  have  the  records  preserved  up  to  the  act  of  con- 
firmation, the  actual  consecration  being  omitted,  or  taken  for  granted. 
The  register  of  Saint  David's  has  also  been  destroyed.  Owing  to  the 
loss  of  the  register,  certain  Roman  controversialists  have  questioned 
the  consecration  of  a  bishop  who  occupied  four  sees  in  the  Church  of 
England,  two  before  and  two  after  the  Reformation.  The  subject  of 
Barlow's  consecration  has  been  carefully  investigated  by  many  men 
of  learning,  both  Protestants  and  Papists.  We  may  mention  Courayer, 
Mason,  Bramhall,  Haddan,  and  Stubbs ;  but  the  case  is  most  con- 
cisely and  clearly  stated  by  a  Romanist,  eminent  as  an  historian,  and 
one  who,  when  there  is  a  doubt  on  any  question,  is  accustomed  to  give 
the  benefit  of  the  doubt  to  the  Roman  side.  Dr.  Lingard  had  a 
character  to  sustain  or  to  lose,  and  he  was  justly  indignant  when, 
by  fanatics  of  his  own  party,  he  was  attacked  and  reviled  for  not 
falsifying  facts  when  those  facts  supported  conclusions  to  which 
Romanists  were  unwilling  to  submit.  I  prefer  his  statement,  as  that 
of  a  theological  opponent,  and  although  there  are  some  expressions  to 
which  we  must  demur,  as  conveying  insinuations  of  which  we  cannot 
admit  the  force,  this  very  circumstance  adds  value  to  the  document, 
for  it  shows  that  he  would  have  taken  the  opposite  side  if  it  were  pos- 
sible to  do  so.  The  passage  about  to  be  quoted  appears  in  a  letter  to 
the  editor  of  the  Birmingham  (Roman)  Catholic  Magazine  in  the  year 
1834.  He  had  been  attacked  for  permitting  himself  to  be  misled  by 
false  and  spurious  documents  with  respect  to  the  consecration  of 
Barlow.     As  I  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  the  letter  again,  I  shall 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  241 

Hodgkins  had  been  consecrated  in  St.  Paul's  Cathe-    chap. 

VIII. 

dral  as  Bishop  of  Bedford,  by  John  Stokesley,  Bishop  of  ^7—^ — ' 
London,  Eobert  Wharton,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  and  John  Parker. 
Hilsey,  Bishop  of  Eochester.     As  in  the  case  of  Barlow,    1559~75- 

Hodgkins, 
in  this  note  confine  myself  to  his  vindication  of  himself  on  this  point,  suffragan 
He  demands  of  his  accuser, — "  Why,  I  will  ask,  are  Ave  to  believe  that  0fBedford. 
of  all  the  bishops  who  lived  in  the  long  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  Barlow 
alone  held  and  exercised  the  episcopal  office  without  episcopal  conse- 
cration ?    He  was  elected,  and  his  election  was  confirmed  in  conformity 
with  the  statute  of  the  twenty-fifth  of  that  reign.     Why   should  we 
suppose  that  he   was  not  consecrated  in  conformity  with  the    same 
statute  ?     Was  Cranmer  the  man  to  incur  the  penalty  of  a  praemunire 
without  cause,  or  was  Henry  a  prince  to  allow  the  law  to  be  violated 
with  impunity?     The  act  had  been  passed   in   support  of  the  king's 
supremacy,  and  to  cut  off  all  recourse  to  Rome.     Most  certainly  the 
transgression   of  its  provisions  would  have  marked  out  Barlow  and 
Cranmer  as  fautors  of  the  papal  authority,  and  have  exposed  them  to 
the  severest  punishment. 

"  For  ten  years  Barlow  performed  all  the  sacred  duties,  and  exercised 
all  the  civil  rights  of  a  consecrated  bishop.  He  took  his  seat  in 
Parliament  and  in  Convocation  as  lord  bishop  of  St.  David's.  He  was 
styled  by  Bishop  Gardyner,  '  his  brother  of  St.  David's  ;'  he  ordained 
priests ;  he  was  one  of  the  officiating  bishops  at  the  consecration  of 
Dr.  Buckly.  Yet  we  are  now  called  upon  to  believe  that  he  was  no 
bishop,  and  consequently  to  believe  that  no  one  objected  to  his  votes, 
though  they  were  known  (on  the  hypothesis)  to  be  illegal ;  or  to  his 
ordinations,  though  they  were  known  to  be  invalid  ;  or  to  his  perform- 
ance of  the  episcopal  functions,  though  it  was  well  known  that  each 
such  function  was  a  sacrilege  ! 

"  But  why  are  we  to  believe  these  impossible — these  incredible 
suppositions  ?  Is  there  any  positive  proof  that  he  was  no  bishop  ? 
None  in  the  world.  All  that  can  be  said  is,  that  we  cannot  find  any 
positive  register  of  his  consecration.  So  neither  can  we  of  many  others, 
particularly  of  Bishop  Gardyner.  Did  any  one  call  in  question  the 
consecration  of  those  bishops  on  that  account  ?  Why  should  we  doubt 
the  consecration  of  Barlow,  and  not  that  of  Gardyner?  I  fear  the  only 
reason  is  this — Gardyner  did  not  consecrate  Parker,  and  Barlow  did." 

The  whole  argument  is  so  concisely  stated  by  the  great  Roman 
Catholic  historian,  that  I  have  thought  it  due  to  the  reader  to  afford  him 
an  opportunity  of  reading  it.     As  to  the  fact  whether  Barlow  were  duly 

VOL.  IX.  R 


242  LIVES   OP   THE 

chap,     he  was  consecrated  under  the  old  form,  in  accordance 

VIII. 

— _*  with  the  rites  of  the  Salisbury  pontifical,  ten  years  before 

Matthew  .       _         ,.,,,,  .  , TT  .        t 

Parker,  any  revised  ordinal  had  been  appointed.  He  assisted  at 
1559-75.  the  consecration  of  Thomas  Thirlby,  Bishop  of  West- 
minster, when  Bishop  Bonner  presided,  under  commission 
from  Archbishop  Cranmer ;  again  at  the  consecration  of 
William  Knight,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  when  Arch- 
bishop Heath,  then  Bishop  of  Eochester,  officiated  for 
Archbishop  Cranmer ;  again  at  the  consecration  of  Paul 
Bush,  Bishop  of  Bristol ;  and  yet  again  at  the  consecration 
of  Henry  Man,  Bishop  of  Sodor  and  Man,  and  at  that  of 
Nicolas  Eidley,  Bishop  of  Eochester.*  Of  the  validity 
of  Bishop  Hodgkins'  consecration  there  could  not  be, 
therefore,  the  possibility  of  a  doubt. 

consecrated  or  not,  it  is  of  less  importance  when  we  bear  in  mind  that 
the  episcopal  character  was  conveyed  by  three  other  bishops  also,  of 
whose  consecration  a  doubt  was  never  raised.  The  Church  requires 
more  than  one  bishop  to  consecrate,  for  the  very  purpose  of  meeting  the 
difficulty  here  supposed,  and  so  clearly  refuted  by  Dr.  Lingard.  The 
episcopal  character  is  conveyed,  not  by  the  archbishop  or  the  presiding 
bishop  alone,  the  other  three  or  four  being  present  only  as  witnesses; 
they  are  all  and  each  the  channels  of  the  grace  then  given,  so  that  if  it 
were  that  the  chief  consecrator  were  canonically  disabled,  each  and  all 
of  the  others,  by  joining  in  the  act,  would  prevent  the  proceeding  from 
being  invalid.  This  is  clearly  asserted  by  a  writer  whose  authority 
will  be  disputed  by  no  one.  Martene  expressly  says,  "  Omnes  qui 
adsunt  episcopi  non  tantum  testes  sed  etiam  cooperatores  esse,  citra 
omnem  dubitationis  aleam  asserendum  est." — Martene,  De  Antiq.  Rit. 
lib.  I.  pars.  vi.  cviii.  In  the  case  of  Parker,  it  was  remarked  that  all 
the  bishops  joined,  not  only  in  the  laying-on  of  hands,  but  in  the 
words  of  consecration,  "  Take  the  Holy  Ghost,"  a  practice  not  usual  at 
the  present  time,  because  not  considered  necessary,  the  laying-on  of 
hands  with  the  archbishop  being  deemed  sufficient.  The  bishops  at 
Parker's  consecration  followed,  perhaps,  the  mediaeval  custom,  for  in  the 
Exeter  pontifical  the  assistant  bishops  are  directed,  not  only  to  lay  their 
hands  on  the  ''  electus,"  but  each  of  them,  with  the  presiding  bishop, 
to  say,  "  Accipe  Spiritum  Sanctum." 

*  See  Stubbs,  who  gives  the  authorities. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  243 

Miles  Coverdale  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Exeter,  and    chap 
John  Scory  Bishop  of  Rochester,  on  the  30th  of  August,  >rr— : — ' 
1551,  at  Croydon,  by  Thomas  Cranmer,  Archbishop  of    Parker. 

...  1 5  *>9 75 

Canterbury,  Nicolas  Ridley,  Bishop  of  London,  and  John  Mi'les  Co_* 
Hodgkins,  of  whom  we  have   just   spoken,    Bishop   of  verdaie, 

Bedtord.  of  Exeter. 

Dr.  Parker,  in  selecting  his  consecrators,  evidently  de-  johnScory, 
sired  to  have  the  pre-Reformation  Church  represented,  eiectof 
while   appointing,   according   to   law,    that   the   revised  Hereford- 
ordinal   should,  now  and  henceforth,  be  the  formulary 
adopted  in  the  English  Church. 

The  eventful  day  approached,  and,  as  we  should  expect,  Prepara- 
every  detail  was  carefully  regulated  under  Parker's  eye.  thTconse- 
It  was  determined  that  the  consecration  should  take  place  ^ati(J°- 

^  Dec.  17, 

in  the  chapel  of  Lambeth  House.  The  Prior  and  Convent,  ^59. 
as  afterwards  did  the  Dean  and  Chapter,  of  Canterbury, 
had  always  claimed  it  as  a  right  that  the  episcopal  conse- 
crations in  the  province  of  Canterbury  should  take  place 
in  their  cathedral,  and  that  consequently,  if  consecrations 
were  to  take  place  elsewhere,  it  would  be  under  a  dis- 
pensation granted  by  them.  But  in  looking  over  the  list 
of  consecrations  in  the  preceding  century,  as  given  by 
Professor  Stubbs,  I  cannot  find  any  bishop  consecrated  at 
Canterbury  ;  and  among  the  different  places  chosen,  evi- 
dently to  meet  the  convenience  of  the  primate  for  the 
time  being,  the  majority  of  consecrations  took  place  at 
Lambeth.*  The  chapel  still  remains,  very  little  changed 
from  what  it  was  in  Parker's  time  ;  and  for  its  decora- 
tion the  archbishop  had  taken  due  care.  The  east  end 
was  adorned  with  tapestry  ;  and  the  floor  was  covered 
with  crimson  cloth.  Four  sedilia  on  the  south  side  of 
the  chancel  were  assigned  to  the  bishops  about  to  take 
part  in  the  consecration ;  before  each  seat  was  a  faldstool 

*  See  Ducarel's  Lambeth. 

B   2 


244 


LIVES    OF    THE 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew 

Parker. 

1669-75. 


Matthew 
Parker's 
friends  as- 
semble at 
Lamboth. 


covered  with  a  carpet,  and  with  cushions  to  match.  A 
throne,  with  a  faldstool  before  it,  adorned  with  hangings 
and  cushions,  was  placed  on  the  north  side  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, to  be  occupied  by  the  archbishop  as  soon  as  he 
was  consecrated. 

It  is  expedient  to  note  these  things,  as  it  is  the  pleasure 
of  some  writers  to  represent  the  whole  proceeding  as 
done  in  a  hole  and  corner,  in  a  careless  and  slovenly 
manner.  We  may  very  much  doubt  whether  so  much 
care  has  been  expended  in  the  decoration  of  the  chapel 
at  any  subsequent  consecrations.5* 

On  the  morning  of  the  17  th  of  December,  1559, 
the  friends,  official  and  personal,  of  Matthew  Parker 
assembled  at  Lambeth,  where  he  had  some  time  before 
taken  up  his  abode.  Edmund  Grindal,  Eichard  Cox, 
and  Edwin  Sandys,  divines  already  designated  to  bisho- 
prics, were  doubtless  there  ;  together  with  Anthony  Huse, 
Esq.,  principal  and  head  registrar  to  the  archbishop  ; 
Thomas  Argall,  Esq.,  registrar  of  the  Prerogative  Court 
of  Canterbury ;  and  Thomas  Willett  and  John  Incent, 
notaries  public.  Parker's  half-brother,  John  Baker,  is 
mentioned  as  having  been  present,  and  with  him  we  find 
associated  Thomas  Doyle  and  John  March.  Among  his 
private  friends  was  his  kinsman,  the  Earl  of  Nottingham, 
to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  some  interesting  particu- 
lars with  reference  to  the   ceremonial. f     The    earl,    as 


*  Complaint  is  often  made  of  the  disregard  of  solemnities  of  the 
sanctuary  too  often  maniiested  by  English  bishops  in  the  exercise  of 
their  episcopal  functions.  Humility  is  a  virtue,  but  the  pride  that 
apes  humility  is  offensive. 

t  For  Parker's  pedigree,  see  ante,  p.  5.  This  Earl  of  Nottingham, 
who  was  born  in  1536,  was  present,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  at  the 
consecration  of  Archbishop  Parker,  and,  though  himself  a  Roman 
Catholic,  he  afterwards  testified  to  the  fact  in  his  place  in  parliament. 
The  truth  of  the  statement  made  in  the  text  is  fully  established  by  a 
letter,  the  original  of  which,  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Dickenson  of 


AKCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  245 

we  have  said,  claimed  a   distant   relationship    with   the     chap. 
archbishop  through  his  mother.     They  assembled  at  an    —  -— - 

iii*.  i      ■•        •  i  •  n  Matthew 

early  hour — between  live  and  six  in  the  morning — tor  Parker, 
it  was  customary,  not  only  in  the  Church  of  England,  1559-?5- 
but  in  the  Churches  also  of  France,  Spain,  and  Italy,  for 
the  consecration  of  a  bishop  to  take  place  at  a  very 
early  hour  in  the  morning,  because,  as  the  celebration  of 
the  Holy  Communion  forms  part  of  the  service,  and  the 
Holy  Communion  was  received  fasting,  a  service  so  long 
as  the  consecration  service  undertaken  by  elderly  men 
might  have  produced  exhaustion.* 

With  the  exception  of  Coverdale,  who,  for  some  reason 
not  given,  appeared  only  in  his  cassock,  such  as  the  Eng- 
lish clergy  were  accustomed  to  wear,  the  bishops  appeared 
in  their  episcopal  vestments ;  and  the  archbishop  elect  in 
his  scarlet  robes,  such  as  are  now  worn  in  Convocation. 
As  they  drew  near  the  chapel  the  west  door  was  thrown 
open,  and  they  were  received  by  vergers  carrying  lights 
before  them.  When  the  congregation  had  taken  their 
places,  morning  prayer  began,  the  archbishop's  chaplain, 
Andrew  Pearson,  officiating.  The  sermon  was  preached, 
as  the  reporter  gave  judgment,  not  inelegantly,  by  John 
Scory,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  about  to  be  translated  to 
Hereford,  to  which  see  he  had  already  been  elected.    His 

Norton  House,  has  been  placed  in  my  hands,  and  which  I  do  not  print 
in  extenso,  as  it  has  been  already  published  by  Mr.  Pocock,  in  the  year 
1865,  in  his  valuable  edition  of  Burnet's  Reformation,  to  which  I  make 
frequent  reference  in  the  text.  It  was  written  by  Mr.  Hampton,  chap- 
lain to  the  Earl  of  Nottingham  and  an  ancestor  of  Mr.  Dickenson,  and 
it  shows  that  he  frequently  repeated,  in  private  conversation,  the  state- 
ment he  publicly  made. 

*  See  Martene,  De  Antiq.  Eccl.  Eit.  lib.  I.  c.  8,  Art.  10,  §  13. 
In  the  primitive  Church  the  third  hour  was  appointed,  in  memory  of 
the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  the  Apostles  at  Pentecost.  It  was 
so  ordered  in  the  Middle  Ages  by  Pope  Anacletus. — Gratian,  Dist. 
lxxv. ;  Honorius,  lib.  I.  cap.  clxxxix. 


246 


LIVES    OF    THE 


CHAP. 
VI 1 1. 

Bfiatthew 
Parker. 

1. 559-75. 


Consecra- 
tion ser- 
vice. 


lordship  certainly  selected  an  appropriate  text,  1  Peter 
v.  1  : — "  The  elders  which  are  among  you  I  exhort,  who 
am  also  an  elder." 

The  sermon  ended,  the  bishops  and  their  attendants 
retired  to  the  vestry  to  array  themselves  for  the  Holy 
Communion.  Bishop  Barlow,  being  the  celebrant,  returned 
to  the  chapel,  wearing  over  him  a  silk  cope  ;  and  in  silk 
copes  appeared  also  Archdeacon  Bullingham  and  Arch- 
deacon Gheast,  the  chaplains  to  the  archbishop,  who  were 
to  be  assistants. 

The  consecration  was  conducted  strictly  in  accordance 
with  the  second  ordinal  of  Edward  VI.*  This  ordinal  is 
nearly  identical  with  that  which  is  now  in  use.  The  only 
point  we  should  remark  is,  that  there  is  a  slight  mention 
in  the  form  of  the  special  office  for  which,  and  of  the 
mode  through  which,  the  offered  grace  is  conveyed. 
The  archbishop  or  presiding  prelate  is  now  directed  to 
say,  when  the  elect  is  kneeling  on  his  knees  before  him, 
and  all  the  bishops  present  are  laying  their  hands  on 
his  head,  "  Eeceive  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  the  office  and 
work  of  a  bishop  in  the  Church  of  God,  now  committed 
unto  thee  by  the  imposition  of  our  hands  ;  in  the  name 
of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Amen.  And  remember  that  thou  stir  up  the  grace  of  God 
which  is  given  thee  by  this  imposition  of  our  hands ;  for 
God  hath  not  given  us  the  spirit  of  fear,  but  of  power,  and 
love,  and  soberness."  At  the  consecration  of  Archbishop 
Parker,  all  the  bishops  who  laid  their  hands  upon  him, 


*  The  Earl  of  Nottingham  says  that  he  was  ordained  by  the  form  in 
King  Edward's  Common  Prayer  Book.  "  I  myself,"  he  says,  "had  the 
book  in  my  hand  all  the  time,  and  went  along  with  the  ordination ; 
and  when  it  was  over  I  dined  with  'em,  and  there  was  an  instrument 
drawne  up  of  the  form  and  order  of  it,  which  instrument- 1  saw  and  redd 
over."     The  letter  is  given  by  Pocock,  Burnet's  Keform.  v.  554. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  247 

said,  as  with  one  voice,  "  Take  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  re-     chap. 
member  thou  stir  up  the  grace  of  God  which  is  in  thee 


by  imposition  of  hands ;  for  God  hath  not  given  us  the     Parker. 
spirit  of  fear,  but  of  power,  and  love,  and  soberness."  1559-75. 

The  service  ended,  the  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
accompanied  by  the  four  bishops,  now  his  suffragans,  re- 
turned by  the  north  door  into  the  vestry,  there  to  unrobe. 
When  he  reappeared,  he  was  vested  in  a  white  rochet 
and  a  chimere  of  black  silk,  wearing  "  round  his  neck  a 
collar  or  scarf  made  of  precious  sabellina  furs,  commonly 
called  sables."* 

At  the  west  door  the  archbishop  paused.  His  half- 
brother,  John  Baker,  was  there  to  congratulate  him,  and 
to  him  the  archbishop  gave  a  staff,  by  which  he  was  con- 
stituted treasurer ;  to  John  Doyle  another  staff  was  given, 
which  he  received  as  steward  of  the  household  ;  John 
March e  was,  by  a  similar  process,  made  the  controller. 
The  archbishop  then  proceeded  to  the  hall,  "  the  gentle 
people"  of  his  family  related  by  blood  preceding  him,  the 
rest  following  him.  Lord  Nottingham  states  that  there 
was  "  a  great  deal  of  company."  Certainly  there  was  no 
lack  of  ceremony,  and  no  desire  to  conduct  business 
privately. 

The  day  closed.  The  company  departed.  The  arch- 
bishop was  at  his  desk  in  his  private  apartment.  Before 
"  kneeling  on  his  knees  "  he  wrote  : — "  On  the  17th  of 
December,  3  559,  I  was  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury. Alas !  alas  !  0  Lord  God,  for  what  times  hast 
Thou  kept  me  !    Now  I  am  come  into  deep  waters,  and 

*  The  reader  will  probably  remember  the  occasional  disputes  among 
the  cathedral  clergy  as  to  the  right  to  wear  scarves.  The  scarf  has,  of 
late,  been  confounded  with  the  stole.  The  object  in  wearing  the  scarf 
was  not  to  add  an  ornament  to  the  ministerial  dress,  but  simply  to  keep 
off  cold.  Fur  scarves  are  seen  in  the  portraits  of  Warham,  Cranmer, 
Parker,  and  many  others. 


248  lives  of  Tin: 

chap,    the  flood  hath  overwhelmed  me.     0  Lord,   I  am   op- 
- — r— -  pressed!     Answer  for  me  and  'stablish  me  with  thy  free 

Matthew     L    .    .  -  .  J 

Parker,     spirit,  for  I  am  a  man  tliat  hath  but  a  short  time  to  live, 

1559-75.    &c      Give  me  thy  sure  mercies,  &C."'* 

These  were  words  not  intended  to  meet  any  eye  but 
his  own,  and  the  hasty  conclusion  of  them  shows  that  he 
was  impatient  to  .throw  himself  upon  his  knees  before 
his  Saviour  and  his  God. 

Parker's  presence  was  required  in  London,  and  he  could 
spare  neither  the  time  nor  the  money  which  would  have 
Enthroned  been  consumed  if  he  had  been  enthroned  in  person.  He 
was  therefore  enthroned  by  proxy,  but  was  careful  that 
all  things  should  be  done  strictly  in  accordance  with 
ancient  precedent.  The  restitution  of  the  temporalities 
of  the  see  was  made  on  the  1st  of  March,  decayed  and 
diminished  as  they  had  undoubtedly  been,  during  the 
vacancy,  by  the  avarice  of  the  queen,  and  the  rapacity  of 
her  favourites.  The  queen's  conscience  seems,  however, 
to  have  reproached  her,  and  some  allowance  was  made  to 
Parker  to  enable  him  to  encounter  the  great  expenses 
of  taking  possession  of  his  plundered  see.  In  a  MS. 
memorandum  at  Lambeth,  it  is  said,  "  there  was  taken 
from  the  see  of  Canterbury,  of  the  temporalities,  con- 
sisting of  manors,  sites  of  priories,  dominical  lands,  parks, 
&c,  in  Kent,  Sussex,  and  Salop,  to  the  clear  yearly  value 
of  1,282/.  6s.  8d.,  for  which  was  returned  now,  in  re- 
compense, the  tenths  of  the  diocese  of  Canterbury, 
of  478/.  10s.  blzd.,  and  in  parsonages  impropriate, 
357/.  lbs.  ll±d.,  and  in  annual  rents,  447/.  9s.  6^.,  so 
that  by  these  valuations  the  recompense  was  set  down  to 
exceed  the  lands  taken  by  Ms.  b\d.,  as  before  in  par- 
ticulars is  written.  The  queen  of  her  favour  gave  unto 
him  in  Michaelmas  rents,  a.d.  1559,  1,235/.  9s.  7d." 

*  Corresp.  p.  484. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  249 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  it  is  seldom  that  really     chap. 
ambitious  men  reach  the  height  at  which  they  aim  ;  and    - — <— — 
that   honours    are    frequently   thrust  upon    others  who,     Parked 
though  alive  to  the  advantages  of  their  position,  would,    ififl*-7*» 
under  a  deep  sense  of  the  attendant  responsibilities,  have 
chosen  for  themselves  the  second  place  rather  than  the 
first.     So  was  it  with  Matthew  Parker. 

Of  his  consecration  a  record  is  preserved  in  his  register. 
It  is  written  in  Latin,  but  has  been  frequently  translated ; 
it  is  hastily  drawn  up,  and  is  only  so  far  valuable,  as  it  is 
a  contemporary  and  anticipatory  refutation  of  the  false- 
hoods many  years  afterwards  invented  and  propagated  by 
certain  unprincipled  Romanists. 


250 


LIVES   OF   THE 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  VIII. 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew 

Parker. 

1559-75. 


1  can  scarcely  condescend  to  notice  the  Nag's  Head  fable.  It 
reflects  eternal  disgrace  upon  some  modern  Komanists  that 
they  persevere  in  propagating  the  falsehood  among  the  igno- 
rant, when  they  are  aware  that  we  find  its  best  refutation  in  the 
writings  of  some  distinguished  men  of  their  own  communion, 
such  as  Charles  Butler,  Canon  Tierney,  and,  above  all,  Dr. 
Lingard.  A  disregard  of  truth  is  often  brought  as  a  general 
charge  against  the  Eomanists ;  they  ought,  therefore,  to  be 
especially  careful  about  the  statements  made.  The  story  is 
easily  told.  In  the  year  1604,  forty-four  years  after  Parker's 
consecration,  an  exiled  Romanist  priest,  of  the  name  of  Holly- 
wood (or  Asacrobosco),  brought  forward  the  story  in  a  contro- 
versial book  printed  at  Antwerp.  The  story,  which  has  long 
since  been  abundantly  refuted,  and  which,  as  has  just  been 
said,  is  given  up  by  learned  Eomanists,  was  to  the  following 
effect : — The  queen,  it  is  alleged,  issued  her  warrant,  directed 
to  the  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  to  Dr.  Scory,  Bishop  elect  of  Here- 
ford, to  Dr.  Barlow,  elect  of  Chichester,  to  Dr.  Coverdale,  some- 
time Bishop  of  Exeter,  to  Dr.  Hodgkins,  suffragan  of  Bedford, 
to  consecrate  the  archbishop.  These  persons,  it  is  said,  met  at 
the  Nag's  Head  Tavern,  where  it  had  been  usual  for  the  Dean 
of  Arches  and  the  civilians  to  refresh  themselves  after  the  con- 
firmation of  a  bishop  ;  and  there  one  Neale,  who  was  Bonner's 
chaplain,  peeped  through  a  hole  in  the  door.  There  he  is 
reported  to  have  seen  the  other  bishops  very  importunate  with 
Llandaff,  who  had  been  dissuaded  by  Bonner  from  assisting  in 
this  consecration.  When  the  Bishop  of  Llandaff  adhered  to 
this  determination,  and  obstinately  refused  to  assist  in  the  pre 
ceedings,  Dr.  Scory  desired  the  others  to  kneel,  and  he  laid  the 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  251 

Bible  on  each  of  their  shoulders  or  heads,  and  pronounced     CHAP. 

these  words,  "  Take  thou  authority,"  &c,  and  so  they  stood  up   < ,— ^ 

all  bishops.  By  the  propagators  of  this  ridiculous  story,  it  is  p!^^7 
forgotten  that,  if  it  had  been  true,  there  were  controversialists  1559-75. 
on  their  side  who  would  certainly  not  have  left  it  unheard-of 
for  five-and-forty  years.  But  on  this  subject  the  reader  shall 
be  referred  to  Dr.  Lingard,  whose  vindication  of  Barlow  we 
have  before  quoted  in  response  to  a  letter  addressed  to  the 
Birmingham  (Roman)  Catholic  Magazine  of  1834.  He  says  to 
the  editor : — "  In  your  last  number  a  correspondent,  under  the 
signature  of  T.  H.,  has  called  upon  me  to  show  why  I  have 
asserted  that  Archbishop  Parker  was  consecrated  on  the  17th 
of  December,  1559.  Though  I  despair  of  satisfying  the  in- 
credulity of  one  who  can  doubt  after  he  has  examined  the 
documents  to  which  I  refer,  yet  I  owe  it  to  myself  to  prove  to 
your  readers  the  truth  of  my  statement,  and  the  utter  futility' 
of  any  objection  that  may  be  brought  against  it. 

"I.  The  matter  in  dispute  is — whether  Parker  received, 
or  did  not  receive,  consecration  on  the  17th  of  December  ; 
but  the  following  facts  are  and  must  be  admitted  on  both 
sides : — That  the  queen,  having  given  the  royal  assent  to  the 
election  of  Parker  by  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Canterbury,  sent*, 
on  the  9th  of  December,  a  mandate  to  six  prelates  to  confirm 
and  consecrate  the  archbishop  elect,  and  that  they  demurred, 
excusing,  as  would  appear  from  what  followed,  their  disobe- 
dience by  formal  exceptions  on  points  of  law.  2.  That  on  thf> 
6th  of  December  she  issued  a  commission  to  seven  bishops, 
ordering  them,  or  any  four  of  them,  to  perform  that  office, 
with  the  addition  of  a  sanatory  clause,  in  which  she  supplied, 
by  her  supreme  authority,  all  legal  or  ecclesiastical  defects  on 
account  of  the  urgency  of  the  time  and  the  necessity  of  the 
things,  temporis  ratione  et  rerum  necessitate  id  postulante, 
which  prove  how  much  the  queen  had  the  consecration  at 
heart.  Certainly  not  without  reason,  for  at  that  time,  with 
the  exception  of  Llandaff,  there  was  not  a  diocese  provided 
with  a  bishop,  nor,  as  the  law  then  stood,  could  any  such  pro- 
vision be  made  without  a  consecrated  archbishop  to  confirm 
and  consecrate  the  bishops  elect.  3.  That  four  out  of  seven 
bishops   named  in  the  commission — (they  had  been  deprived 


252  LIVES   OF   THE 

*££?'     or  disgraced  under  Queen  Mary,  but  had  now  come  forward  to 
— — r— '-^   offer  their  services  and  solicit  preferments  in  "  [what  Lingard 
Pariter*    *s   pleased    to   call]   "the  new  Church) — having    obtained    a 
1559-75.     favourable  opinion  from  six  counsel  learned  in  the  law,  under- 
took to  execute  the  commission  and  confirm  Parker's  election 
on  the  9th  of  December. 

"  II.  Now,  these  facts  being  indisputable,  what,  I  ask,  should 
prevent  the  consecration  from  taking  place  ?  The  queen 
required  it ;  Parker,  as  appears  from  his  subsequent  conduc 
had  no  objection  to  the  ceremony,  and  the  commissioners  wer< 
ready  to  perform  it,  or  rather  were  under  an  obligation  to  do  s< 
for  by  the  twenty-fifth  of  Henry  VIII.,  revived  in  the  last  par 
liament,  they  were  compelled,  under  the  penalty  of  praemunire, 
to  proceed  to  the  consecration  within  twenty  days  after  the 
date  of  the  commission.  Most  certainly  all  these  preliminary 
facts  lead  to  the  presumption  that  the  consecration  did  actually 
take  place  about  the  time  assigned  for  it,  the  17th  of  December, 
a  day  falling  within  the  limits  I  have  just  mentioned. 

"III.  In  the  next  place,  I  must  solicit  your  attention 
certain  indisputable  facts  subsequent  to  that  period.     The 
are,  first,  that  on  the   18th — and  the  day  is  remarkable — the 
queen  sent  for  Parker  no  fewer  than  six  writs,  addressed  to  him 
under  the  new  style  of  Matthew,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
and  Primate  and  Metropolitan  of  all  England,  and  directing 
him  to  proceed  to  the  confirmation  and  consecration  of  six 
bishops  elect  for    six  vacant  sees.     This  was   the   first   time 
during  the  six  months  which  had  elapsed  since  his  election 
that  any  such  writ  had  been  directed  to  him.     What,  then, 
could  have  happened  just  before  the  18th  to  entitle  him  to  this 
new  style,  and  to  enable  him  to  confirm  and  consecrate  bisho 
which  he  could  not  do  before  ?     The  obvious  answer  is,  that  h 
himself  had  been  consecrated  on  the  17th.     2nd.  That  on 
21st  he  consecrated  four  new  bishops,  on  the  21st  of  Janua 
five  others,  two   more  on  the   2nd,  and  two   on  the  24th  o 
March.     Can  we  suppose  that  as  much  importance  would 
attached  to  consecration  given  by  him  if  he  had  received 
consecration  himself,  or  that  the  new  Church "  [so,  as  a  con 
troversialist,  Lingard  designates  the  reformed  Church]  "  woul 


: 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF    CANTERBURY.  253 

have  been  left  so  lonp;  without  bishops  at  all  if  it  had  not  been     CHAP. 

VI]  I 
thought  necessary  that  he  who  was  by  law  to  consecrate  others   v. , !_. 

should  previously  receive  that  rite  ?  3rd.  That  afterwards,  at  ^:ltthew 
the  same  time  with  the  new  prelates,  he  received  the  restora-  1559*$ 
tion  of  his  temporalities,  a  restoration  which  was  never  made 
till  after  consecration.  4th.  That  he  not  only  presided  at  the 
consecration,  but  sat  in  successive  parliaments,  which  privilege 
was  never  allowed  to  any  but  consecrated  bishops.  In  my 
judgment,  the  comparison  of  these  facts  with  those  which  pre- 
ceded the  17th  of  December,  form  so  strong  a  case  that  I 
should  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  in  favour  of  the  consecration, 
if  even  all  direct  and  positive  evidence  respecting  it  had 
perished. 

"  IV.  But  there  exists  evidence  in  abundance.  That  Parker 
was  consecrated  on  the  17th  of  December  is  asserted  first  by 
Camden  (i.  49),  second  by  Godwin  {Be  Prcesul.  p,  212),  third 
by  the  archbishop  himself  in  his  work  De  Antiquitate  Britannise 
Ecclesiae,  published  in  1572,  three  years  before  hie  death;  or, 
if  that  book  be  denied  to  be  his,  in  his  Diary,  in  which  occurs 
the  following  entry  in  his  own  hand  : — '  17th  Dec.  ann.  1559. 
Consecratus  sum  in  Archiepiscopum  Cantuariensem.  lieu, 
heu,  Bomine  Beus,  in  quce  tempora  servasti  me  ! '— Strype's 
Parker  (App.  ix.)  ;  and,  fourth,  by  the  archiepiscopal  register, 
a  record  which  details  the  whole  proceedings,  with  the  nameg 
of  the  bishops,  of  their  chaplains,  and  of  the  official  witness. 

"V.  Now  to  this  mass  of  evidence,  direct  and  indirect, 
what  does  your  correspondent  oppose  ? "  Having  alluded  to 
the  opinion  oppugning  the  validity  of  the  consecration,  from 
the  Eomish  point  of  view,  he  says,  that  if  Dr.  Milner  has 
expressed  a  doubt  as  to  the  fact  of  the  consecration,  he  must 
have  written  hastily,  and  without  consideration,  "i"  am  not 
aware"  he  continues,  "  of  any  open  denial  of  the  facts,  till 
about  fifty  years  afterwards,  when  the  tale  of  the  foolery  sup- 
posed to  have  been  played  at  the  Nag's  Head  was  first  pub- 
lished. In  refutation  of  that  story,  Protestant  writers  applied 
to  the  register  ;  their  opponents  disputed  its  authority,  and 
the  consequence  was,  that  in  1614  Archbishop  Abbot  invited 
Colleton,  arch-priest,  with  two  or  three  other  [Roman]  Catholic 


254 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAP. 
VIII. 

Matthew 
Parke*. 

1550-75. 


missioners,  to  Lambeth,  and  submitted  the  register  to  their 
spection,  in  the  presence  of  six  of  his  own  episcopal  colleagues. 
The  details  may  be  seen  in  Dodd,  ii.  227,  or  in  Godwin,  p.  219. 

"  VI.  Your  correspondent  assures  us  that  the  register  contains 
so  many  inaccuracies  and  points  at  variance  with  the  history  of 
the  tfmes,  as  manifestly  prove  it  a  forgery.  Were  it  so,  there 
still  remains  sufficient  evidence  of  the  fact.  But  what  induces 
T.  H.  to  m&ke  this  assertion  ?  Has  he  examined  into  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  case,  or  does  he  only  take  for  granted  the 
validity  of  several  objections,  which  are  founded  on  miscon- 
ception or  ignorance  that  the  register  agrees  in  every  particular 
with  what  we  know  of  the  history  of  the  times,  and  there  exists 
not  the  semblance  of  a  reason  for  pronouncing  it  a  forgery  ?  " 

Thus  wrote  Dr.  Lingard  to  the  editor  of  the  Birmingham 
(Roman)  Catholic  Magazine  in  1834;  and  in  the  rejection  of 
a  statement  so  absurd  he  is  supported  by  Canon  Tierney  in  his 
notes  on  Dodd,  and  by  Mr.  Butler  in  his  fourth  letter  to  Bisho] 
Philpotts.  The  whole  subject  is  more  concisely,  and  with  mon 
accurate  learning,  investigated  by  Professor  Stubbs,  in  his  lettei 
to  a  Russian  friend,  '  On  the  Apostolical  Succession  in  th( 
Church  of  England.'  But  for  obvious  reasons  I  have  preferred 
the  refutation  of  the  fable  by  a  divine  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 

It  is  not  my  business  to  investigate  every  absurd  invention 
suggested  by  party  rancour,  in  ignorance  or  in  malice,  and 
produced  half  a  century  after  the  occurrences  to  which  they 
refer  had  taken  place.  I  have  simply  to  state  the  historical 
facts  as  they  are  rendered  to  us  by  public  documents  or  private 
correspondence  ;  but  the  Nag's  Head  fable  is  still  so  often 
asserted  among  the  ignorant  as  an  historical  fact,  that  I  have 
thought  it  right  to  notice  it  in  this  place ;  and  it  is  to  the 
credit  of  the  Roman  Church  that  I  have  been  enabled  to  ex- 
pose the  fiction  by  the  letter  of  a  Roman  Catholic  historian, 
to  whose  learning  persons  of  every  communion  are  willing  to 
do  honour. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  255 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

PROCEEDINGS   IMMEDIATELY  AFTER   PARKER'S    CONSECRATION. 

Parker's  position  as  Primate. — Archbishop  Heath's  letter  of  remonstrance. — 
Parker's  reply. — Treatment  of  the  non-juring  bishops. — Change  of  policy 
at  Rome. — Death  of  Paul  IV. — Pius  IV.  and  Queen  Elizabeth. — Invi- 
tation to  the  Council  of  Trent. — Elizabeth  an  avowed  Catholic. — Con- 
secration of  bishops. — Correspondence  with  John  Calvin. — Rules  for 
ordination. — Lay  help. — Disagreement  among  the  bishops. — -Fire  at  St. 
Paul's. — The  episcopal  assessors. — John  Jewel. — His  sermon  at  Paul's 
Cross. — Apology  for  the  Church  of  England. — Sketch  of  the  condition 
of  the  English  Church. 

It  is  purposed  in  this  chapter  to  confine  our  attention  to     chap. 
he  external  affairs  of  the  Church ;  the  doctrinal  reforms   — ^ — - 
in  which  Parker  was  concerned  will  come   under   our    Parker, 
notice  in  a  subsequent  chapter.  1559-75. 

Upon  the  labours  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her  advisers, 
we  have  already  had  occasion  to  offer  a  few  remarks. 
When  we  consider  what  was  accomplished,  within  the 
brief  limits  of  one  year,  in  rendering  her  government  firm 
at  home  and  respected  abroad,  we  cannot  but  feel  indig- 
nant at  the  attempt  made,  in  modern  times,  to  rob  the 
distinguished  statesmen  of  this  reign  of  the  approbation 
so  justly  accorded  to  them  by  their  contemporaries,  ajid 
by  the  succeeding  generation,  who  enjoyed  the  prosperity 
their  labours  had  effected. 

What  may  fairly  be  predicated  of  the  great  statesman- 
of  the  day,  William  Cecil,  Lord  Burghley,  may  with  equal 
fairness  be  said,  with  reference  to  ecclesiastical  affairs,  in 
praise  of  Matthew  Parker.     The  difficulties  with  which  he 


256 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CITAP. 
IX. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


Arch- 
bishop 
Heath's 
letter  of 
remun- 
Btrance  to 
Arch- 
bishop 
Parker. 
1560. 


had  to  contend  were  many  and  great,  and  the  support 
he  received  was  precarious  and  insufficient.  In  Cecil 
our  primate  found  a  constant  friend;  but,  even  with  his 
friendly  intentions,  political  considerations  were  sometimes 
permitted  to  interfere.  Bacon  was,  in  some  measure, 
brought  under  the  influence  of  the  Puritans,  and  upon  his 
support  Parker  could  not  always  calculate  beforehand. 
The  queen's  conduct  was  capricious  and  irritating.  She 
entirely  agreed  with  Parker  in  his  principles  ;  she  was 
fiercely  indignant  if,  at  any  time,  he  seemed  to  deviate 
from  them,  or  to  yield  to  his  opponents ;  but  through 
temper,  through  the  influence  of  favourites,  or,  as  we  have 
suggested,  through  mere  caprice,  her  support  was  not  un- 
frequently  withheld  at  the  very  time  when  Parker  stood 
most  in  need  of  it.  She  seemed  occasionally  to  take  a 
malignant  pleasure  in  adding  to  the  difficulties  of  her 
servants,  although  they  were  confident  that,  in  any 
extreme  case,  she  would  come  powerfully  to  their  aid. 

An  opportunity  was  soon  offered  to  the  primate,  by  the 
non-juring  bishops,  for  declaring  himself  to  be  so  strongly 
in  favour  of  the  Eeformation,  as  to  satisfy  his  opponents 
on  the  Protectant  side,  with  the  exception  of  those  only 
who  would  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  the  sur- 
render of  all  Church  principle.  Archbishop  Heath  was 
inclined  to  regard  the  considerate  kindness  he  had 
experienced  as  a  sign  of  weakness  as  well  as  of  friend- 
ship ;  and  acting  under  the  influence  of  foreign  pressure, 
he,  in  concurrence  with  his  brethren,  addressed  a  remon- 
strance and  reproof  to  their  new  metropolitan.  Nothing 
could  be  more  opportune  for  Archbishop  Parker.  He 
availed  himself  of  the  occasion  to  inform  Archbishop 
Heath,  and  the  prelates  who  had  adhered  to  him,  that 
the  time  for  conference  and  reconciliation  had  passed. 
The  dissenting  prelates  had  taken  one  line,  the  Puritam 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  257 

another :  Parker  was  determined  thenceforth  to  take  a     chap. 
line  of  his  own.     Opposed  to  Papists  and  Puritans,  his  ^  I 


object  was,  as  we  have  in  a  former  chapter  remarked,  to    p^L^ 
create  out  of  the  moderate  men  a  school  of  thought,    1559-7& 
which  was  soon,  under  Hooker  and  his  followers,  to  be 
developed  into  what  is  now  called  Anglicanism.     In  his  Parker' 
reply  to  the  address  of  Archbishop  Heath  and  his  co-  repy* 
religionists,  Archbishop  Parker  began  by  affirming,  that 
it  was  the  pride,  the  covetousness,  and  the  usurpations  of 
the  Bishop  of  Eome  and  his  predecessors,  that  had  com- 
pelled the  princes  of  the  earth  to  defend  their  territories 
and  their  privileges  from  that  wicked  Babylon  and  her 
bishop.     Then  addressing  himself  directly  to  his  corre- 
spondents, he  said : — 

"Whereas  you  and  the  rest  of  the  late  expulsed 
bishops  have  scandalized  our  reformed  clergy  within 
these  her  majesty's  realms,  that  we  yield  no  subjection 
unto  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  we  yield  more  than  the 
fathers  of  the  Eomish  tribe  do  ;  for  we  honour  and  adore 
Christ  as  the  true  Son  of  God,  equal  with  his  Father,  as 
well  in  authority  as  in  majesty,  and  do  make  Him  no 
foreigner  to  the  realm,  as  you  members  and  clergy  of  the 
Church  of  Eome  do ;  but  we  profess  Him  to  be  our  only 
Maker  and  Eedeemer,  and  ruler  of  his  Church,  not  only 
in  this  realm,  but  also  in  all  nations,  unto  whom  princes 
and  preachers  are  but  servants ;  the  preachers  to  pro- 
pose, the  princes  to  execute,  Christ's  will  and  command- 
ments, whom  you,  and  all  that  desire  to  be  saved,  must 
believe  and  obey,  against  all  councils  and  tribunals  who 
do  dissent  from  his  word,  whether  regal  or  papal." 

The  archbishop  went  on  to  declare,  that  the  like  reve- 
rence was  paid  to  the  Apostles  by  the  friends  of  the 
Eeformation,  as  they  received  their  writings  "with  exacter 
vol.  ix.  s 


258  lives  of  Tin: 

chap,     obedience,  than  Eomanists  do,"  and  never  allowed   the 

TV 

Scriptures   to  be   superseded  by  the  will  of  men.     He. 


Parker,  remarked,  that  our  Keformation  detested  those  false 
1559-75*  principles,  by  which  popes  and  papal  writers  added, 
altered,  and  diminished,  yea,  even  dispensed  with  not 
only  the  writings  of  the  Apostles,  but  also  the  very 
words  of  our  Lord  himself;  that  we  acknowledged  as 
lawful  councils  of  the  Church,  whether  provincial  or 
oecumenical,  those  only  which  had  been  convened  by 
religious  princes  in  conjunction  with  their  prelates  ;  but 
that  we  owned  no  subjection  to  popish  tribunals.  He 
quoted  Saint  Cyprian  to  show  that  Saint  Peter  claimed 
no  subjection  to  himself,  and  he  begged  them  to  observe 
« — "  how  we  of  the  Church  of  England,  reformed  by  our 
late  King  Edward  and  his  clergy,  and  now  by  her 
majesty  and  hers  reviving  the  same,  have  but  imitated 
and  followed  the  examples  of  the  ancient  and  worthy 
fathers."  He  appealed  to  Saint  Augustine,  as  well  as  to 
Saint  Cyprian,  affirming  that  we  had  the  authority  of 
these  and  other  fathers  for  our  denial  of  the  proud 
demands  of  Eome  ;  and  he  proceeded  to  show  that  they, 
as  bishops,  were  treading  in  the  steps  of  their  predeces- 
sors— those  British  bishops  who,  of  old,  held  authority 
independent  of  Eome  within  this  realm.  "  I,  and  the  rest 
of  our  brethren,"  he  continued,  "  the  bishops  and  clergy 
of  the  realm,  supposed  ye  to  be  our  brethren  in  Christ ; 
but  we  be  sorry  that  ye,  through  your  perverseness,  have 
separated  yourselves  not  only  from  us,  but  from  these 
ancient  fathers  and  their  opinions  ;  and  that  ye  permit 
one  man  to  have  all  the  members  of  your  Saviour  Christ 
Jesus  under  his  subjection;  this  your  wilful  opinion  is  not 
the  way  to  reduce  kings,  princes,  and  their  subjects  to 
truth,  but  rather  to  blindfold  them  into  utter  darkness." 
He   ended   with  saying :  "  Consider,  therefore,  of  these 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  259 

things;  and  it  shall  be  the  continual  prayers  of  our  re-     chap. 
formed  Church  to  convert  ye  all  to  the  truth  of  God's  -- 


word,   to  obedience  to  your  sovereign   Lady  Elizabeth    parked 
our  queen,  which  in  so  doing  ye  glorify  Christ  and  the    1559-75^ 
Eternal  God,  which  is  in  heaven,  and  is  solely  the  chief 
and  absolute  ruler  of  princes."     He  signed  himself  "  your 
faithful  brother  in  Christ,  Matthew  Cantuariensis."* 

Controversy  on  this  side  now  ceased.  Parker  was 
given  to  understand,  that  there  would  be  no  factious 
opposition  on  the  part  of  the  non-jurors  to  the  new 
primate,  and  it  has  been  even  asserted,  although  I  have 
seen  no  proof  of  the  fact,  that  Heath  and  Tunstall  had 
sent  in   their   adhesion  to   the   government.     It  reflects  Generous 

, .  ,  .  ,  treatment 

great  credit  upon  the  primate,  and  upon  Elizabeths  of  the  non- 
government in  general,  that  notwithstanding  their  dis-  bishops, 
sent,  the  deprived  prelates  were  treated  with  the  greatest 
consideration  and  kindness.  Parker  was  very  lenient  in 
pressing  the  oath  of  supremacy,  f  Heath,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  being  a  man  of  fortune,  lived  at  his 
own  private  house  at  Chobham,  within  four  miles  of 
Windsor,^  and  at  his  residence  he  frequently  received 
visits  from  the  queen.  Bishop  Thirlby  lived  with  Parker, 
both  at  Lambeth  and  at  Bekesbourne,  the  archiepis- 
copal  residence  near  Canterbury.  He  did  not  die  till 
August  26,  1570  ;  and,  according  to  Bishop  Godwin,  he 
found  more  happiness,  though  nominally  under  restraint, 
during  this  period  of  his  life,  than  he  had  done  heretofore 
in  the  midst  of  the  fullest  stream  of  his  highest  honours.  § 
On  his  death,  the  archbishop  had  him  decently  buried 
within  the  chancel  of  the  parish  church  of  Lambeth, 
where  a  fair  stone  was  laid  upon  his  grave.     Dr.  Tunstall, 

*  Corresp.  p.  109-113.  t  Collier,  vi.  368. 

X  Not  Cobhara :  Bee  Zurich  Letters,  ii.  182.  §  Godwin,  p.  334. 

s  2 


260  LIVES  OF  tiii: 

chap,  the  ex-Bishop  of  Durham,  and  Parker  had  long  beei 
- — ^ — »  friends,  and  the  friendship  was  not  disturbed  by  differ- 
Parker.  enees  of  opinion.  Of  Feckenham,  the  deposed  Abbot  of 
1559-75.  Westminster,  we  have  had  occasion  before  to  speak.  The 
plan  adopted  with  the  recusant  bishops  was  to  quartei 
them  upon  one  of  the  conforming  prelates ;  and,  as  was 
the  case  with  Parker,  the  prelate  upon  whom  this  duty- 
was  imposed  permitted  his  prisoner,  if  he  was  to  be  so  ac- 
counted, to  live  as  one  of  the  family.  The  custodian  was 
only  responsible  for  the  prelate  under  his  care,  that  he 
should  not  leave  the  country.  "  These  prelates,"  says 
Fuller,  "  had  sweet  chambers,  soft  beds,  warm  fires,  plen- 
tiful and  wholesome  diet,  each  bishop  faring  like  an 
archbishop,  differing  nothing  from  their  former  living, 
saving  that  was  on  their  own  charges,  and  this  at  the 
cost  of  another."  Something  must  have  depended,  of 
course,  upon  the  temper  of  the  host,  and  something  also  on 
that  of  the  compulsory  guest.  Feckenham  was  quartered 
on  Horn,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  a  learned,  but  disputa- 
tious narrow-minded  man,  and  on  both  sides  a  contro- 
versial spirit  betrayed  itself;  so  that,  after  a  time,  they 
came  to  an  agreement,  that  Feckenham  should  have 
private  apartments  in  the  palace,  and  live  independently, 
no  longer  as  one  of  the  family,  though  he  sometimes 
mingled  in  it.  Bishop  Bonner  was  a  low,  coarse,  vulgar 
man :  he  was  at  first  quartered  on  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 
but  made  himself  so  disagreeable,  that,  at  last,  he  was 
placed  within  the  rules  of  the  Marshalsea  prison  ;  that  is, 
he  was  permitted  to  occupy  within  a  prescribed  circuit  a 
house  of  his  own,  being  restrained  from  passing  beyond 
certain  boundaries.  The  bishops  thus  accommodated 
conformed  more  or  less  to  the  new  order  of  things  ;  but 
to  this  Dr.  White  and  Dr.  Watson  could  not  conscientiously 
submit.     Watson  was  at  first  committed  to  the  custody  of 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  261 

Grindal,  Bishop  of  London,  and  afterwards  to  that  of  Cox,     chap. 
Bishop  of  Ely.     Instead,  however,  of  meeting  courteous 


treatment  with  courtesy,  Watson  was  found  "  preaching    parked 
against  the  State,"  and  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  place    1559-75. 
him  under  closer  restraint.    Wisbech  Castle*  was  assigned 
to  him  for  a  residence,  and  there,  in  1584,  he  died. 

In  short,  as  is  stated  in  a  contemporary  pamphlet,f 
"  most  of  them,  and  many  other  of  their  sort,  for  a  great 
time,  were  retained  in  bishops'  houses  in  a  very  civil  and 
courteous  manner,  without  danger  to  themselves  or  their 
friends ;  until  the  time  that  the  pope  began,  by  his  bulls 
and  messages,  to  offer  trouble  to  the  realm  by  stirring  up 
rebellion."  When  assassination — the  assassination  of  the 
queen — was  preached  as  a  virtue  by  the  followers  of  the 
pope,  the  papists  could  no  longer  expect  toleration.  But 
some  years  were  to  elapse  before  a  popish  sect,  with  such 
a  principle,  was  established  in  England. 

When  the  authorities  at  Eome  became  gradually  aware  change  of 
of  the  strength  of  Elizabeth's  government,  and  of  her  5j°0mJ.at 
resolution,  while  maintaining  her  own  views,  to  make  the 
necessary  concessions  to  the  Protestants,  the  policy  of  the 
papal   court   was   suddenly    changed.     Even   Paul  IV.,  Death  of 
who   died   August  18,  1559,  had   arrived  at   the  con-  isthof" 
viction,  that  Elizabeth  was  not  to  be  terrified  into  sub-  JjSJ* 
mission ;   and  when  the  aged  John  Angelo  dei  Medici 
succeeded  to  the  papal  office,  it  became  quite  clear,  that 
specific  measures  would  be  adopted.     Known  in  papal 
history  as  Pius  IV.,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  queen,  Letter  ad- 
dated  the  5th  of  May,  1560.     He  sent  her  his  apostolical  piussseiv.by 

to  Queen 
Elizabeth* 
*  Godwin,  p.  361.  1560. 

t  Printed  in  Somers's  Tracts,  i.  193.  When  party  feeling  ran  high, 
occasional  instances  of  harshness  must  have  occurred,  but  the  desire  to 
treat  with  kindness  and  consideration  all  except  political  offenders  ia 
undeniable. 


262  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,     benediction,  saying,  that  in  his  desire  to  provide  for 
s^_^! — .  salvation  and  the  establishment  of  her  kingdom,  he  had 

frirker.  determined  to  forward  to  her  certain  instructions  by  the 
1559-75.  hand  of  a  nuncio,  Vincentio  Parpaglia,  a  prelate  well 
known  in  England  in  the  time  of  the  late  archbishop, 
Cardinal  Pole.  He  entreated  her  to  put  away  her  evil 
counsellors,  men  who  sought  to  further  their  own  objects, 
instead  of  labouring  for  her  cause.  He  promised  her  the 
support  of  the  papal  court,  if  she  would  act  on  his  advice 
and  dismiss  her  ministers*  At  the  same  time,  he  uncon- 
sciously betrayed  his  haughtiness,  by  saying,  that  he — the 
poor  old  pope — was  ready  to  receive  the  Queen  of 
England  into  favour  on  her  penitence,  even  as  the  parent 
in  the  gospel  received  his  prodigal  child.  He  hoped  to 
be  able  to  communicate  to  the  fathers  about  to  be  re- 
assembled in  an  cecumenical  or  general  Council,  an  account 
of  her  repentance ;  an  account  which,  he  informed  her, 
could  not  fail  to  add  to  the  joy  of  heaven  itself.  Other 
matters  he  left  to  be  more  fully  explained  by  Vincentio, 
whom  he  entreated  her  to  hear. 

This  letter  is  given  in  Camden  ;  and,  if  it  is  authentic — 
a  fact  which  has  been  questioned — it  must  have  been 
intended  simply  to  supply  the  credentials  to  Vincentio. 
It  was  in  another  letter,  of  indisputable  authenticity,  that 
a  formal  overture  was  made  to  the  queen,  on  the  part  of 
the  pope,  to  the  effect,  that  on  condition  of  her  adhesion 
to  the  see  of  Eome,  the  pope  would  approve  of  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  including  the  Liturgy  or  Communion 
Service,  and  the  Ordinal.  Although  his  holiness  com- 
plained, that  many  things  were  omitted  in  the  Prayer 
Book  which  ought  to  be  there,  he  admitted  that  the  book, 
nevertheless,  contained  nothing  contrary  to  the  truth, 
while  it  certainly  comprehended  all  that  is  necessary  for 
salvation.     He  was  therefore  prepared  to  authorize  the 


AKCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  263 

Book  of  Common  Prayer,  if  her  majesty  would  receive    chap. 


IX. 


it  from  him  and  on  his  authority.* 

The  letter  containing  this  proposal  was  probably  de-  parLT 
spatched  from  Brussels ;  for  it  is  certain  that  Vincentio  1559-75/ 
Parpaglia  waited  there  for  permission  to  appear  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  that  he  continued  to  abide  there  until  he 
received  an  official  notification,  that  the  English  govern- 
ment could  not,  without  a  transgression  of  the  ancient 
laws  of  the  land,  sanction  the  presence  in  the  realm  of  a 
papal  nuncio. 

In  this  refusal  to  receive  the  papal  nuncio,  the  govern-  Elizabeth 
ment  acted  according  to  precedent,  and  no  incivility  was  receive  the 
implied.  It  had  long  been  the  law  of  the  land  that  no 
legate  or  nuncio  from  Borne  could  land  in  this  country 
until  the  consent  of  parliament  had  been  obtained.  As 
an  unfavourable  answer  would  be  returned,  it  was  an  act 
of  civility  to  offer  the  suggestion,  that  it  would  be  better 
not  to  put  the  question. 

In  fact,  the  papal  offer  had  come  too  late.  The  queen 
had  been  obliged,  by  the  insulting  and  impolitic  conduct 
of  the  preceding  pope,  to  take  her  stand  with  the  Pro- 
testants ;  and  she  would  not  condescend  "  to  play  fast  and 

*  Lord  Justice  Coke,  at  the  Norwich  assizes,  in  1606,  only  three 
years  after  the  queen's  death,  made  publicly  the  statement  as  given  in 
the  text,  adding,  "  I  have  often  heard  from  the  queen's  own  mouth,  and 
I  have  frequently  conferred  with  noblemen  of  the  highest  rank  of  the 
State  who  had  seen  and  read  the  pope's  letter  on  this  subject,  as  I  have 
related  it  to  you.  And  this  is  as  true  as  I  am  an  honest  man." — 
Charge  28.  See  The  Defence  of  the  Dissertation  of  the  English 
Ordinations,  p.  260.  Sir  Roger  Twysden,  in  his  Historical  Vindication 
of  the  Church  of  England  in  point  of  Schism,  p.  176,  being  well 
acquainted  with  Coke's  charge,  adds,  "  I  myself  have  received  it  [the 
story]  from  such  as  I  cannot  doubt  it,  they  having  had  it  from  persons 
of  nigh  relation  unto  them  who  were  actors  in  the  managing  of  the 
business."  The  subject  is  discussed  by  Mr.  Chancellor  Harington  and 
by  an  anonymous  correspondent  in  Notes  and  Queries. 


264 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAP. 

IX. 

S.  , — ' 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1659-75. 


Invitation 
to  the 
Council  of 
Trent. 


Elizabeth 
an  avowed 
Catholic. 


loose."  If  the  proposal  had  been  made  sooner,  the  whole 
character  of  the  English  Eeformation  would  probably 
have  been  changed, — whether  for  the  better  or  for  the 
worse,  who  can  say  ?  But  now  the  die  had  been  cast ; 
and  when,  soon  after,  it  was  notified  to  the  English 
government  that  Jerome  Martinengo,  under  a  commission 
from  the  pope,  was  on  his  way  to  England,  he  was 
warned  not  to  proceed  further  than  Flanders. 

It  had  been  determined  at  Eome,  after  much  discussioi 
and  doubt,  to  resume  the  sessions  of  the  Council  of  Trent ; 
and  the  determination  was  formally  announced  by  Pope 
Pius  IV.  to  the  princes  in  connection  with  the  see  of 
Eome.  It  was  communicated  also,  but  in  different  terms, 
to  the  *  Protestant  princes:  Protestants  were  invited  to 
attend,  but  not  on  terms  of  equality  with  other  po- 
tentates. To  the  Queen  of  England  an  invitation  was 
despatched,  but  Elizabeth  would  not  consent  to  be  herded 
with  the  various  sects  of  Protestantism  ;  and  she  declared 
herself  to  be,  notwithstanding  her  reforms — or,  all  the 
more,  on  account  of  her  reforms — a  Catholic  sovereign. 
Unless  she  were  thus  approached,  she  would  not  be  ap- 
proached at  all.  She  was  prompted  by  Parker,  and  the 
ground  they  took  was  intelligible  to  her  contemporaries, 
however  difficult  it  may  appear  to  the  comprehensions  of 
those  readers  or  writers  who  are  ignorant  of  the  principles 
of  the  English  Eeformation,  and  of  the  tenets  of  our  great 
divines.  When  the  ambassador  of  Philip  urged  upon  the 
queen  the  propriety  of  receiving  Martinengo,  she  replied  : 
"  An  invidious  distinction  is  made  between  me  and  such 
other  Catholic  potentates  as  have  been  invited  to  this 
council  some  time  ago.  The  proposed  assembly  will  also 
not  be  free,  pious,  and  christian.  Were  it  likely  to  pos- 
sess these  characters,  I  would  send  to  it  some  religious 
and  zealous  persons  to  represent  the  Church  of  England. 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  265 

Any  permission  of  the  nuncio's  entrance  into  my  do-     chap. 

minions  is  not  to  be  expected  from  me.     His  employ- 5l- - 

ment   here  would   be,   under  cover  of  the    council,  to     Parked 
foment  seditions  among  a  party  of  my  subjects."  1559-75. 

When  the  Spanish  ambassador  remonstrated  with  the 
queen,  and  represented  such  an  answer  as  unusual  and 
discourteous,  the  queen's  reply  was  : — "  To  refuse  such 
messengers  is  no  new  thing  in  England.  Eecently,  my 
sister  Mary  denied  admittance  into  her  territories  to  the 
late  pope's  envoy,  who  brought  a  cardinal's  hat  for 
William  Peto." 

From  this  time  friendly  intercourse  has  ceased  between 
England  and  Some.  The  Eubicon  was  passed.  The 
Church  of  England,  though  continuing  to  be,  what  she 
had  always  been,  the  Catholic  Church  of  this  country, 
now  became  Protestant  also  ;  Catholic  through  the  apos- 
tolical succession,  yet  Protestant  in  the  sense  of  protesting 
against  the  errors  of  Borne.*     Her  history  from  this  time 

*  In  the  opinion  of  an  Anglican,  Protestantism  stands  opposed,  not 
to  Catholicism,  but  to  Popery.  It  is  quite  of  late  years  that  a  party  in 
the  English  Church  disclaimed  a  title  of  which  some  of  the  highest  An- 
glicans in  former  times,  such  as  Andrewes,  Jeremy  Taylor,  Ken,  and 
Laud  himself,  expressed  themselves  proud.  Until  the  time  of  the  Revo- 
lution, Protestant  in  England  was  the  term  used  to  designate  a  Church  of 
England  man  ;  his  opponents  were  Puritans,  Calvinists,  Presbyterians, 
and  persons  of  other  denominations.  At  the  Revolution  it  was  desired 
to  find  a  term  to  designate  all  who  made  common  cause  against  the  court 
of  James  and  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  term  chosen  was  that  of  Pro- 
testant, which  thenceforth  was  not  applied  exclusively  to  members  of 
the  Church  of  England.  The  confusion  occasioned  by  this  proceeding 
was  great,  but  it  becomes  worse  confounded  when  the  term  is  repu- 
diated by  the  representatives  of  those  who  for  a  long  period  in  our 
history  made  it  their  boast  that,  though  they  had  never  ceased  to  be 
Catholics,  they  were,  nevertheless,  as  protesting  against  Rome,  true 
Protestants.  On  the  Continent,  the  Anti-Romanists  are  still  divided 
into  Protestants,  a  term  there  synonymous  with  that  of  Lutherans,  and 
the  Reformed,  or  the  disciples  of  Calvin. 


266 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAP. 

IX. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559  75. 


Consecra- 
tion of 
bishops. 
December 
21,  1560. 


Parker's 
difficulties 
with  re 
gard  to  the 
episcopate. 


is  a  succession  of  struggles  for  independence,  for  she 
hated  by  Eomanists  for  her  Protestantism  ;  and  her  claim 
to  Catholicism  exasperates  against  her  the  ultra-Protestant 
sects.  There  is,  at  the  present  time,  a  call  for  union  between 
the  Anglo-Catholic  and  the  Eoman  Catholic  teachers  of 
the  Church.  Those  who  adhere  to  the  English  Eefor- 
mation  have  no  objection  to  urge  against  this,  if  Kome 
will  yield  to  England ;  but  when  England  is  exhorted  to 
become  a  blind  follower  of  Eome,  the  Unionists  are 
opposed,  and  must  be  opposed  to  the  last.* 

Upon  the  archbishop  now  devolved  the  duty  of  continu- 
ing the  episcopal  succession,  by  consecrating  bishops  for 
the  vacant  dioceses.  Before  Parker's  own  consecration, 
it  had  been  determined  that  Edmund  Grindal  should  be 
consecrated  for  London,  Eichard  Cox  for  Ely,  Edwin 
Sandys  for  Worcester,  and  Eowland  Meyrick  for  Bangor. 
They  were  all  Episcopalians,  and  advocates  of  that  revi- 
sion of  the  old  services  of  the  Church,  which  came  down 
to  them  in  the  form  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  ; 
but  how  far  they  would  defend  the  Prayer  Book  from  the 
attacks  incessantly  made  upon  it,  by  those  who  contende( 
that  our  Eeformation  had  not  gone  far  enough,  remain< 
to  be  proved.  On  the  21st  of  December,  being  St 
Thomas's  Day,  these  four  divines  were  consecrated  b; 
Parker  in  Lambeth  Chapel.  And  so  the  Anglican  bisho] 
trace  their  succession  up  to  Parker,  through  Parker  to 
Augustine,  through  Augustine  to  the  Apostles,  througl 
the  Apostles  to  Christ. 

The  primate  had  soon  to  encounter  difficulties  in  anothei 
direction.     The  distinguished  men  who  conformed  to  th< 

*  In  reference  to  our  relation  to  Rome,  it  has  been  observed,  that 
we  may  continue  to  be  members  of  the  same  family,  although  tw< 
branches  of  the  family  may  not  be  on  speaking  terms  the  one  with  the 
other. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  267 

English  Eeformation,  were  not  all  of  them  prepared  to     chap. 
separate,  on  doctrinal  points,  from  their  friends  on  the  >    ? '  -* 
Continent ;   or  even   from  those  with  whom   they  had'    Parked 
hitherto  acted  at  home.     The  first  question  raised  had    1559.75. 
reference  to  the  episcopate.     It  was  objected,  that  the 
episcopate  connected  the  Church  of  England  with  the 
Church  of  Eome  ;  and,  in  the  opinion  of  the  ultra-Pro- 
testants, the  Church  of  Eome  was  Antichrist.     The  con- 
forming Puritans,  therefore,  appealed  to  an  authority  to 
which  every  Puritan  would  defer   as   to  a  pope;  they 
referred  at  once  to  one  of  Calvin's  works,  in  which,  with 
respect  to  episcopacy,  that   celebrated  man   had    said: 
"Let  them  give  us  such  a  hierarchy  in  which  bishops 
may  b.e  so  above  the  rest  as  they  refuse  not  to  be  under 
Christ,  but  depend  upon  him  as  their  very  head  .... 
and  then  if  there  be  any  who  do  not  behave  themselves 
with  all  reverence  and  obedience  towards  them,  there  is 
no  anathema  but  I  confess  them  worthy  of  it."  * 

Calvin  had,  indeed,  in  the  year  1549,  as  Archbishop 
Parker  discovered  among  the  muniments  of  his  see,  offered 
to  make  King  Edward  *  VI.  u  the  defender  of  his  sect,  and 
to  invest  some  of  his  ministers  with  quasi-episcopal  powers, 
for  the  promotion  of  unity  and  concord."  This  letter  had 
been  intercepted  by  Bishops  Gardyner  and  Bonner,  who 
returned  an  answer  as  coming  from  the  reformed  divines ; 
"  wherein,"  continues  Parker,  "  they  checked  him  and 
slighted  his  proposals  :  from  which  time  John  Calvin 
and  the  Church  of  England  were  at  variance  in  several 
points,  which  otherwise,  through  God's  mercy,  had  been 
qualified  if  those  papers  of  his  proposals  had  been  dis- 
covered unto  the  queen's  majesty  during  John  Calvin's 
life.     But  being  not  discovered  until  or  about  the  sixth 

*  Strype's  Parker,  p.  140. 


268 


LIVES    OF   THE 


CHAP. 
IX. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1569-75. 


year  of  her  majesty's  reign,  her  majesty  much  laments 
they  were  not  found  sooner."* 

The  non-conforming  Puritans — their  wits  now  sharp- 
ened by  faction — were  not,  however,  to  be  imposed  upon. 
They  clearly  understood,  that  Calvin  merely  meant,  that 
he  would  grant  to  the  moderator  of  a  Presbyterian  synod, 
the  style  and  title  of  a  Bishop,  if,  by  so  doing,  he  could 
put  an  end  to  a  controversy  which — if  it  related  merely 
to  the  question  of  Church  government — would  be  re- 
garded by  himself,  and  by  the  generality  of  serious  men, 
in  the  light  of  a  dispute  insignificant  and  puerile.  They 
could  perceive,  that  Calvin  purposely  avoided  the  vital 
question  of  apostolical  succession ;  and  thenceforth,  until 
the  time  of  Bilson,  Whitgift,  Hooker,  and  the  great  divines 
who  adorned  the  close  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  the  question 
of  episcopacy,  as  involving  the  continuity  and  perpetuity 
of  the  Church,  was  tacitly  admitted.  Neal,  the  Puritan 
historian,  simply  states,  that  "it  was  admitted  by  the 
Court  reformers  " — (so  he  designates  the  reformers  of  the 
Church  of  England) — "  that  the  Church  of  Eome  was  a 
true  Church,  though  corrupt  in  some  points  of  doctrine 
and  government ;  that  all  her  ministrations  were  valid, 
and  that  the  pope  was  a  true  Bishop  of  Eome,  though 
not  of  the  universal  Church.  It  was  thought  necessary 
to  maintain  this,"  he  continues,  "for  the  support  of  the 
character  of  our  bishops,  who  could  not  otherwise  derive 
their  succession  from  the  Apostles.'"  He  goes  on  to  say, 
"that  the  English  reformers  maintained,  that  the  prac- 
tice of  the  primitive  Church  for  the  first  four  or  ^.\e 
centuries,  was  a  proper  standard  of  Church  government 
and  discipline,  and  in  some  respects  better  than  that  of 
the  Apostles,  which,  according  to  them,  was  only  accom- 

*  For  further  quotations  to  this  effect,  see  Durel's  View  of  the 
Government  and  Worship  of  Almighty  God  in  the  Reformed  Churches 
beyond  the  Seas. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  269 

inodated  to  the  infant  state  of  the  Church,  while  it  was 
under  persecution,  whereas  theirs  was  suited  to  the  gran- 
deur of  a  national  establishment."*  Allowing  for  the  PaJkerW 
party  colouring  of  the  Puritan  historian,  this  statement  is  1559-75. 
in  the  main  correct. 

Upon  Parker  everything  now  depended,  and  he  threw 
himself  heartily  into  his  work.     Other  prelates  were  con- 
secrated at  Lambeth  on  the  21st  of  January  ;  but  his 
troubles  were  not  confined  to  a  selection  of  fit  persons  to 
occupy  the  higher  offices  in  the  Church.     The  plague, 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  at  the  close  of  Queen  Mary's 
reign  carried  off  so  many  of  the  bishops,  was  equally  fatal 
among  the  parochial  clergy.     Many  parishes  were  now  Vacancies 
vacant,  and  not  a  few  of  them  had  been  despoiled  and  parochial6 
robbed  during  the  vacancies.     The  archbishop  issued  to  clevsy- 
his   suffragans,  through  the  Bishop  of  London,  certain 
questions  to  be  answered  relating  to  the  state  of  their  Rules  for 
dioceses.     He  found  it  difficult  to  procure,  as  he  desired,  ^na" 
a  sufficient  number  of  clergymen,  well   instructed,  not 
violent  controversialists,  or  fanatics,  to  serve  among  the 
parochial   clergy ;  but,  great   as  the   difficulty  was,  he 
warned  the  bishops  against  yielding  to  the  temptation  of 
admitting  to  the  vacant  cures  men  not  sufficiently  in- 
structed to  discharge,  with  credit  to  themselves  and  profit 
to  the  people,  the  functions  of  the  sacred  ministry.     In  Letter 
a  letter  addressed  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  dated  primJteto 
August  15,  1560,  the  archbishop  observes  that,  "  now  by  ^j^JJf 
experience  it  is  seen  that  such  manner  of  men,  partly  by 
reason  of  their  former  profane  arts,  partly  by  their  light 
behaviour  otherwise,  and  trade  of  life,  are  very  offensive 
unto  the  people ;  yea  and  to  the  wise  of  this  realm  are 
thought  to  do   great   deal   more   hurt   than   good,  the 
Gospel  there  sustaining  slander. "f     The  truth  is,  that 

*  Neal,  i.  101,  102.  t  Corresp.  p.  120. 


270  lives  op  Tin: 

chap,  several  of  the  bishops  were  willing  to  lay  hands  upon 
» — ^— *  any  persons  who  exhibited  the  enthusiasm  of  piety.  The 
Parker,  danger  of  such  a  proceeding  arises  from. the  ease  with 
1559-75.  which  such  a  condition  is  simulated  ;  as  well  as  from  the 
fact,  that  devotional  fervour  is  apt  to  subside,  leaving 
sometimes  a  residuum  of  worse  than  lukewarmness.  A 
man  may  begin  as  an  enthusiast,  and  end  as  a  hypocrite 
or  a  worldling.  The  archbishop  charged  his  suffragans, 
therefore,  "  to  be  very  circumspect  in  admitting  any  to 
the  ministry,  and  only  to  allow  such  as,  having  good 
testimony  of  their  honest  conversation^  had  been  traded 
[i.e.  trained]  and  exercised  in  learning,  or  at  the  least 
had  spent  their  time  with  teaching  of  children ;  excluding 
all  others  which  have  been  brought  up  and  sustained 
themselves  either  by  occupation  or  other  kinds  of  life, 
alienated  from  learning." 
Lay  help.  The  primate  wisely  concluded,  that  it  would  be  prefer- 
able to  have  recourse  to  lay  help,  than  to  give  encou- 
ragement to  these  Jeroboam  ordinations.*  He  drew  up 
uAn  order  for  serving  cures  novo  destitute;  "  together  with 
certain  regulations,  such  as  could  only  be  drawn  up  by 
a  man  whose  Church  principles  were  firmly  established. 
He  regarded  the  distinction  between  the  clergy  and  the 
laity  as  consisting  chiefly  in  this,  that  the  clergy  alone  were 
authorized  to  preach  in  church  and  to  administer  the 
sacraments.  He  proposed,  therefore,  in  the  present  emer- 
gency, and  not  as  bearing  upon  the  permanent  regulations 
of  the  Church,  that  certain  lectors  or  readers  should  be 
licensed  by  the  bishop  or  his  chancellor ;  honest,  sober, 

*  For  this  mode  of  proceeding  he  had  a  precedent  in  the  primitive 
Church.  The  regulations  laid  down  for  Readers  in  the  Eastern  Church 
may  be  seen  in  Bingham.  It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  that  it  was  only 
now  that  the  fact  began  to  be  recognized,  that  the  clergy  are  to  be 
employed,  not  only  in  the  various  offices  of  prayer  and  praise,  but  also 
as  instructors  of  the  people. 


AECHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  271 

and  grave  laymen,  who  should  be  permitted  in  destitute     chap. 
churches  to  say  the  Litany  and  to  read  a  homily ;  but  not  « — A-* 
of  course  to  baptize,  to  marry,  to  minister  the  Holy  Com-    parked 
munion,   or   to   preach.     He   proposed,  moreover,    that    1559-75. 
parishes  for  which  no  incumbent  could  be  provided  should 
be  held  in  commendam  by  a  neighbouring  rector,  whose 
duty  it  would  be  periodically  to  visit  those  parishes  to 
preach  the  word,  to  minister  the  Holy  Communion,  and  to 
baptize  the  children.     The  priest  was  also  to  catechize 
the  children,  and  to  ascertain  whether  they  were  properly 
instructed  by  the  lay  helper  ;  and  he  was  to  refer  all 
causes  of  great  importance  to  the  bishop. 

Although  the  archbishop  was  supported  by  several  of  Disagree- 
the  prelates  whose  principles  were  in  accordance  with  his  among  the 
own,  yet  with  some  other  of  his  suffragans  he  could  not    ls  ops* 
avoid    occasional    misunderstandings.      This,    however, 
afforded  him  an  opportunity  for  evincing  a  union  of  firm- 
ness with  good  temper,  such  as  is  sure*  in  the  long  run, 
to   give   weight   to   authority.     He   complained  of  the 
"  Germanical  natures  "  which  some  of  the   bishops  had 
brought  with  them  from  the  Continent,  and  of  his  meeting 
opposition  where  he  had  a  right  to  expect  support.     In 
the  disagreements  among  the  bishops,  as  shown  in  their 
letters,  and  especially  in  the  letter  of  Parker  himself,  we 
find  more  divergences  of  opinion  than  we  should  have 
anticipated,  but  a  display  of  Christian  temper  which  is 
truly  gratifying  and  instructive. 

Parker's  difficulties  were  rendered  greater  by  the  un-  Differences 
certainty  of  the  queen's  temper ;  and  by  the  impossibility  ^een.  e 
of  calculating  from  antecedents,  what  under  given  circum- 
stances her  line  of  conduct  might  become.  Although  she 
deferred  to  the  judgment  of  the  archbishop,  and  was  even 
enraged  if  at  any  time  he  seemed  to  deviate  from  the 
principles  he  had  laid  down  for  her  guidance,  yet  from 


>e- 

i 


272  lives  of  tiii: 

chap,  her  perverseness  and  caprice  he  suffered  so  much  as 
v — ,J — <  be  sometimes  driven  almost  to  the  borders  of  despair. 
Parker.  On  one  point  she  was  especially  perverse — the  marriage 
1559-75.  of  the  clergy.  Her  desire  was  that,  as  before  the  Eefor- 
mation,  so  now,  the  marriage  of  the  clergy  should  be 
an  exception  to  the  rule  of  celibacy,  and  should  be  con- 
tracted only  under  a  dispensation  from  the  crown.  Here 
Parker's  private  feelings  made  him  resolute,  and  she  be- 
came sure  that  she  would  lose  her  primate  if  she  did  n< 
yield.  Throughout  the  middle  ages,  as  we  have  seen 
preceding  volumes,  the  dispensations  to  marry  could  b( 
obtained  by  the  clergy  on  application  to  the  crown  ;  but 
the  clergy  who  acted  on  such  dispensations  were  regarded 
"  as  black  sheep."  Parker  demanded  the  recognition  of 
clerical  marriages  as  a  right ;  marriage  to  them,  as  to  all 
men,  was  to  be  a  holy  and  an  honourable  estate. 

Of  the  visitations  held  by  Parker,  on  his  re-endowment 
and  reform  of  hospitals  and  schools,  and  on  his  care  to 
remove  the  scandals  still  existing  in  the  ecclesiastical 
courts,  we  shall  have  occasion  to  give  a  more  minute 
account  in  a  subsequent  chapter.  He  was  glad  to  avail 
himself  of  opportunities  as  they  occurred  of  refreshing 
his  spirits  and  restoring  himself  to  health  by  an  occa- 
sional visit  to  his  country  houses  ;  but  business  required 
him  to  be  so  often  in  London,  that  at  the  commencement 
of  his  career  he  was  much  in  Lambeth  ;  and  looking  down 
Fire  at  St.  the  river  on  the  4th  of  June,  1561,  he  beheld  the  magnifi- 
4th  June,  cent  cathedral  of  St.  Paul's  in  flames.  It  had  been  struck 
156L  with  lightning.  The  fire  was  at  last  overcome,  but  not 
until  the  lofty  spire,  together  with  the  upper  roof  of  the 
church  and  aisles,  was  entirely  consumed.  The  archbishop 
immediately  conferred  with  the  queen  as  to  the  measures 
to  be  adopted  for  the  restoration  of  the  cathedral,  and  a 
public  letter  was  addressed  to  him,  in  the  usual  fori 


AHCHBISIIOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  27 ') 

trough  which  he  was  authorized,  after  consultation  with 
the  bishops  and  the  principal  members  of  the  clergy,  "  to 
devise  upon  some  contribution  of  money  and  relief  to  be  ^ife* 
levied  and  collected  of  the  same  clergy."  The  queen,  in  1*59-7$. 
her  letter  to  the  archbishop,  adds  : — "  Wherein  we  mean 
neither  to  prescribe  to  you  the  manner  of  levying,  nor 
the  sum  to  be  contributed,  but  refer  the  same  to  your 
wisdom  and  the  consideration  of  so  great  a  work.  And 
if  you  shall  think  meet  to  be  informed  therein,  upon  any 
special  doubt,  then  to  resort  to  our  Council,  who  in  that 
behalf  shall  give  you  knowledge  and  advice  of  that  which 
shall  be  convenient."* 

In  those  days,  no  one  was  permitted  to  raise  money  of 
the  queen's  lieges,  except  through  parliament,  or  through 
Convocation  ;  through  the  offertory,  or  by  means  of  letters 
patent  from  the  crown.     The  present  system  of  making 
public  collections  at  the  church  doors,  or  otherwise  than 
in  the  offertory,  was  seldom,  if  ever,  resorted  to  before 
the  Revolution.     At  that  time,  the  dissenters  commenced 
the  system  of  charity  sermons.     It  was  at  first  regarded 
as  an  invasion  of  the  royal  prerogative ;  but  when  the 
authorities  did  not  interfere  with  the  new  system,  the 
Church  gradually  followed  the  example,  until  at  length 
charity  sermons  have  become,  in  many  places,  a  burden 
hard  to  bear.     As  in  the  case  before  us,  neither  parlia-  Money 
merit  nor  Convocation  was  sitting,  and  as  the  necessity  [h^rlto^ 
was  urgent,  the  archbishop  was  permitted,  under  a  royal  gfp1  *f 
mandate,  to  raise  the  money  necessary  for  the  restoration 
of  the  cathedral  of  London. 

Owing  to  the  impossibility  of  immediately  convening 
Convocation,  the  archbishop  had  recourse  to  another 
irregularity.    He  invited  a  committee  of  bishops  to  con- 


*  Corresp.  p.  142. 
VOL.  IX.  T 


kJ74  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,    suit  with  him  at  Lambeth  ;  and  to  make  such  regulations 

*_ — .  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  as  would  admit  the  plea  of  urgency. 

Raker.  As  a^  spiritual  authority  emanates  from  the  bishops,  thougl  1 
i5.r)9-7r>.  in  national  or  provincial  churches  they  have  delegated  a 
portion  of  their  authority  to  the  second  order  of  the 
ministry,  there  could  be  no  objection  to  this  measure 
as  inconsistent  with  Catholic  principles.  But  authority 
once  granted  to,  or  exercised  by  the  presbyters  of  a 
national  Church  could  not  be  capriciously  ignored  or 
tyrannically  withdrawn.  As  the  lawswrf the  land, as  well  as 
the  canons  of  the  Church,  protected  the  second  order  of 
the  clergy  in  the  exercise  of  their  rights,  Parker  armed 
himself  with  the  royal  authority  before  proceeding  to  act. 
On  the  authority  of  a  late  act  of  parliament,  consistently 
with  the  principles  of  the  Church,  he  convened  a  meeting 
of  the  bishops,  not  to  create  new  laws,  but  to  consider  how 
best  to  carry  into  effect  the  laws  and  the  statutes  already 
in  existence. 
The  epis-  This  meeting,  to  which  was  modestly  assigned  the  title 
of  an  assessus,  was  held  in  April,  1561,  and  at  its  first 
session  eleven  articles  were  agreed  upon.  The  doctrine 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  was  asserted  ;  as  were  the  sufficiency 
of  holy  Scripture  ;  the  three  creeds ;  the  power  of  the 
keys  as  exercised  in  the  Church  ;  the  necessity  of  ordina- 
tion ;  the  fact,  that  the  authority  lately  exercised  by  the 
pope  in  England  was  a  usurpation ;  the  agreement  of  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  with  Scripture  ;  the  lawfulness 
of  omitting  the  application  of  oil,  salt,  and  spittle  in  the 
administration  of  holy  baptism  ;  the  distinction  between 
the  Mass  and  the  Communion  ;  the  necessity  of  adminis- 
tering the  Holy  Communion  in  both  kinds  ;  the  rejection 
of  images,  relics,  and  counterfeit  miracles.* 

*  These  superstitious  practices  would  have  remained  in  our  Church, 
if  they  had  not  been  specially  abolished.     It  is  to  be  remembered,  al- 


copal  as 

sessus 

1561. 


AECHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  275 

At  a  second  session,  on  April  12,  the  Archbishop  of    chap. 
York  attended.     He  gave  his  assent  to  the  articles  ;  and  _^El>_- 
orders  were  issued  that  they  should  be  subscribed  by  the    p^k1^ 
clergy  licensed  to  officiate  in  the  dioceses  of  either  pro-    1559-75. 
vince.     Other  arrangements  were  suggested  by  Parker  for 
the  discipline  of  the  Church,  and  sanctioned  by  his  suffra- 
gans.    An  examination  of  the  Scripture  readers  was  to  be 
instituted  by  the  ordinaries ;  certain  cautions  were  to  be 
taken   against  simoniacal  contracts ;    the  popish  service 
books  were  to  be  abolished  ;  marriages  within  the  Levi- 
tical  degrees  were  to  be  disallowed ;  the  archbishops  and 
bishops  were  to  contribute,  according  to  the  proportion  of 
their  revenues,  towards  the  expenses  of  learned  strangers 
at  Oxford  and  Cambridge.* 

The  primate  was  agreeably  surprised  to  find,  that  the  Cordial 
bishops  were  prepared  to  act  cordially  with  him,  in  all  between 
that  related  to  the  discipline  of  the  Church  ;  and  in  f^the 
regard  to  doctrine,  he  wisely  confined  attention  to  the  bishoPs- 
essentials  of  religion  ;  avoiding,  as  far  as  possible,  con- 
troverted doctrines  or  subjects  likely  to  promote  dissen- 
sion. 

Parker  now  felt,  that  the  time  had  arrived  when,  not 
only  to  England,  but  to  the  whole  Western  Church, 
should  be  clearly  announced  the  ecclesiastical  position 
which  had  been  assumed  by  the  English  primate  and  his 
suffragans,  under  the  supremacy  of  the  queen ;  her 
supremacy  extending  to  things  temporal,  and  not,  as  had 

ways,  that  the  Catholics  were  in  possession  of  our  churches ;  and  the 
Reformation  was  effected  by  obtaining  concessions  from  them.  Nothing 
can  be  further  from  the  truth  than  the  supposition  that  the  Protestants 
were  in  possession,  and  that  it  was  to  Catholics,  not  to  Protestants,  that 
concessions  were  offered.  Some  of  the  decisions  of  the  modern  Privy 
Council  are  to  be  traced  to  the  fact  of  the  judges  not  being  historians  also, 


*  Wilkins,  iv.  224. 


t  2 


27G 


LIVER   OF   THE 


CHAP. 
IX. 


Matthow 
Parker. 

1669-75. 


been  wickedly  misrepresented,  to  the  discharge  of  any 
-  spiritual  functions.    The  determination  of  the  pope  to  re- 


sume the  sessions  of  the  Council  of  Trent  made  some 
such  measure  the  more  important,  if  not  absolutely  neces- 
sary. On  this  point  there  could  not  be  two  opinions,  but 
the  question  was,  who  was  to  undertake  it  ?  Parker  him- 
self had  not  the  time  to  engage  in  a  work  of  such  learning 
and  labour.  He  was  not  a  man  who  overestimated  his 
powers.  Competent  though  he  knew  himself  to  be,  from 
hispatristic  learning,  for  such  an  undertaking,  he  was,  at  the 
same  time,  conscious  that  he  did  not  possess  the  vivida  vis 
animi,  the  glowing  enthusiasm  of  genius,  by  which  to 
make  such  a  work  interesting  as  well  as  instructive.  The 
same  might  be  said  of  those  among  the  English  reformers 
who  concurred  in  the  principles  of  the  Eeformation.  He 
was  admirably  adapted  to  criticise  and  revise,  but  not  to 
compose. 

Among  the  returned  and  conforming  exiles  there  were 
some  who  might  have  been  equal  to  the  task,  from  their 
talents  and  their  piety ;  but  they  were  warped  in  their 
principles  by  their  intercourse  with  foreigners,  or  else  were 
not  sufficiently  learned  for  such  an  undertaking. 

At  length  the  man  was  found. 

On  June  18,  1559,  John  Jewel  preached  a  sermon 
at  Paul's  Cross  which  excited  general  attention  and 
some  surprise.  He  dared  the  opponents  of  the  English 
Eeformation  to  defend  their  opposition  on  scriptural 
principles,  or  on  the  principles  of  the  primitive  Church. 

Parker  knew  Jewel  to  be  a  man  of  real  and  substantial 
learning,  and  of  a  nature  modest  and  malleable  ;  and  that, 
although  his  principles  were  not  as  yet  quite  fixed,  he  was 
open  to  conviction.  His  antecedents  proclaimed  him  to  be 
a  sincere,  though  a  weak  man.  When,  on  the  accession  of 
Queen  Mary,  he  was  called  to  account  for  his  principles, 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  277 

he,  under  fear  of  torture  and  the  stake,  renounced  all 

that  laid  him  open  to  a  suspicion  of  Protestantism  ;  but 

soon  after,  repenting  and  recanting,  he  fled  abroad.    When    parkerW 

first  he  went  to  the  Continent  he  was   regarded   as  a    1559-75. 

representative  of  the  principles  of  the  English  Eeforma- 

tion,  as  maintained  by  such  men  as  Eidley  and  Parker ; 

but  open  to  flattery,  and  peculiarly  sensitive  of  kindness, 

he  returned  to  England  with  an  inclination  to  Calvinism, 

so  far  as  Calvinism  was  at  that  time  developed.    Although 

he  was  prepared  to  argue  for  the  continuity  of  the  Church, 

or  the  identity  of  the  existing  Eeformed  Church  with  the 

pre-Eeformation  Church,  he  desired  to  conciliate  his  old 

friends  by  not  contending  for  the  retention  of  the  ancient 

vestments  ;  although  on  this  point,  also,  his  judgment  was 

not  decided. 

Of  Parker  himself  we  have  already  remarked,  that  he 
possessed  one  great  qualification  as  a  leader  ;  he  was  a 
large-hearted,  and  not  a  narrow-minded  man.  He  saw 
what  was  excellent  in  Jewel,  and  brought  his  stronger 
mind  to  influence  Jewel's  flexible  judgment ;  he  led  him 
on  to  compose  a  work  which,  if  not  all  that  he  could 
wish,  was,  like  the  Homilies,  well  adapted  to  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  time. 

Jewel  had  been  again  appointed  to  preach  at  Paul's 
Cross  ;  when,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  archbishop,  and  to 
the  astonishment  of  many  among  his  hearers,  he  took  very 
high  ground.  He  maintained  the  Catholicism  of  the 
Church  of  England.  He  declared  that  where  the  Church 
of  Eome  differed  from  the  Church  of  England,  Eome  was 
medieval,  and  England  primitive.  What  was  purely 
medieval  was  comparatively  novel ;  what  was  novel  could 
not  be  primitive.  The  Church  of  England  was  so  de- 
cidedly scriptural  and  primitive,  interpreting  Scripture 
according  to  the  light  of  primitive  tradition,  that  he  was 


278 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAP. 
IX. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1-359-75. 


content  to  give  up  her  cause,  if  her  opponents  could  Bhow, 
that  they  had  the  authority  of  the  fathers  or  of  the  tradi- 
tion of  the  primitive  Church,  in  favour  of  any  of  those 
doctrines  on  which  the  reformed  Church  of  England 
differed  from  the  Church  of  Borne.  His  assertion,  re- 
peated in  his  Apology,  was  :  "  We  are  come  as  near  as 
we  possibly  could  to  the  Church  of  the  Apostles  and  the 
old  Catholic  bishops  and  fathers ;  and  have  directed 
according  to  their  customs  and  ordinances,  not  only  our 
doctrine,  but  also  the  sacraments  and  the  form  of  common 
prayer."  * 

Here  was  his  principle.  This  is  the  principle  of  Angli- 
canism as  distinguished  from  the  foreign  reformations  : 
not  Luther,  not  Calvin,  but  the  primitive  Church. 

The  archbishop  sought  Jewel.  He  gained  influence 
over  him  ;  and  to  what  extent  may  be  shown  by  one  fact 
connected  with  Jewel's  history.  From  an  unwillingness 
to  separate  from  Puritans  at  home,  and  from  a  desire  to 
stand  well  with  his  foreign  correspondents,  Jewel  had, 
as  we  have  remarked,  at  one  time  written  with  indiscreet 
zeal  against  the  clerical  vestments  ;  but  when  he  became 
a  bishop,  few  prelates  insisted  more  strongly  than  he 
upon  obedience  to  the  law  in  this  respect.  He  was  one 
with  Parker ;  and  the  archbishop  suggested  the  appoint- 
ment of  Jewel  to  the  see  of  Salisbury :  having  been 
duly  elected,  he  was  consecrated  at  Lambeth  on  January 
21,  1560. 

On  the  18th  of  June,  properly  vested,  and  attended  by 
all  those  decent  ceremonies  which  pertained  to  his  office, 
and  which  folly  only  will  despise,  the  Lord  Bishop 
of  Salisbury  ascended  again  the  pulpit  at  Paul's  Cross. 
Thus  arrayed,  his  appearance  was  itself  a  sermon.     He 


*  Jewel's  Works,  p.  614. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  279 

took  his  text  from   1   Cor.  xi.  23-25  : — "  For  I  have     chap. 
received  of  the  Lord  that  which  also  I  delivered  unto  you,  < — ^ — - 
That  the  Lord  Jesus  the  same   night  in  which  he  teas    parked 
betrayed  took  bread:  and  when  he  had  given  thanks,  he    1559-75. 
brake  it,  and  said,  Take,  eat :  this  is  my  body,  which  is 
broken  for  you  :  this  do  in  remembrance  of  me.     After  the 
same  manner  also  he  took  the  cup,  when  he  had  supped, 
saying,  This  cup  is  the  new  testament  in  my  blood:  this 
do  ye,  as  oft  as  ye  drink  it,  in  remembrance  of  me"     He 
reiterated  the  challenge  he  had  in  substance  pronounced 
on  a  former  occasion.     He  did  so,  because  it  had  been 
rumoured  that  he  had  given  utterance  to  more  than  he 
was  able  to  maintain. 

"  I  then  said,  perhaps  boldly,  as  it  might  then  seem  to 
some  men,  but  as  I  myself  and  the  learned  of  our  adver- 
saries themselves  do  well  know,  sincerely  and  truly,  that 
none  of  all  them  that  this  day  stand  against  us,  are  able, 
or  shall  ever  be  able,  to  prove  against  us  any  one  of  all 
those  points,  either  by  the  Scriptures,  or  by  example  of 
the   primitive    Church,   or  by   the  old  doctors,   or    by 

the  ancient  general  councils The  words  that  I 

then  spake,  as  near  as  I  can  call  them  to  mind,  were 
these:  If  any  learned  man  of  all  our  adversaries,  or  if 
all  the  learned  men  that  be  alive,  be  able  to  bring  any 
one  sufficient  sentence  out  of  any  old  Catholic  doctor 
or  father,  or  out  of  any  old  general  council,  or  out  of 
the  holy  Scriptures  of  God,  or  any  one  example  of  the 
primitive  Church,  whereby  it  may  be  clearly  and  plainly 
proved, 

"  That  there  was  any  private  mass  in  the  whole  world 
at  that  time,  for  the  space  of  six  hundred  years  after 
Christ ; 

"  Or  that  there  was  then  any  communion  ministered 
unto  the  people  under  one  kind  ; 


280 


LIVES  OF  tin: 


CHAP. 

IX. 

M  ittlu'w 
Parker. 
15  5  £-7. 3. 


"  Or  that  the  people  had  their  common  prayers  then  ii 
a  strange  tongue  that  they  understood  not; 

"  Or  that  the  Bishop  of  Home  was  then  called  an  uni- 
versal bishop,  or  the  head  of  the  universal  Church  ; 

"Or  that  the  people  were  then  taught  to  believe  that 
Christ's  body  is  really,  substantially,  corporally,  carnally, 
or  naturally  in  the  sacrament ; 

"  Or  that  his  body  is  or  may  be  in  a  thousand  places 
or  more  at  one  time  ; 

"  Or  that  the  priest  did  then  hold  up  the  sacrament 
over  his  head ; 

"  Or  that  the  people  did  then  fall  down  and  worship 
it  with  godly  honour  ; 

"  Or  that  the  sacrament  was  then,  or  now  ought  to  be, 
hanged  up  under  a  canopy  ; 

"  Or  that  in  the  sacrament  after  the  words  of  conse- 
cration, there  remaineth  only  the  accidents  and  shews 
without  the  substance  of  bread  and  wine  ; 

"  Or  that  the  priest  then  divided  the  sacrament  into 
three  parts,  and  afterwards  received  himself  all  alone  ; 

"  Or  that  whosoever  had  said  the  sacrament  is  a  figure, 
a  pledge,  a  token,  or  a  remembrance  of  Christ's  body, 
had  therefore  been  judged  for  an  heretic  ; 

"  Or  that  it  was  lawful  then  to  have  thirty,  twenty, 
fifteen,  ten,  or  five  masses  said  in  one  church,  in  one 
day  ; 

"  Or  that  images  were  then  set  up  in  the  churches,  to 
the  intent  that  the  people  might  worship  them  ; 

"  Or  that  the  lay  people  was  then  forbidden  to  read 
the  word  of  God  in  their  own  tongue  ; 

"  If  any  man  alive  were  able  to  prove  any  of  these 
articles  by  any  one  clear  or  plain  clause  or  sentence, 
either  of  the  Scriptures  or  of  the  old  doctors,  or  of  any 
old  general  council,  or  by  any  example  of  the  primitive 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  281 

Cliurch,  I  promised  then  that  I  would  give  over  and  sub-     chap. 
scribe  unto  him."  « — -r— ; 

He  declared  himself  ready  not  only  not  to  retract  any-    Parker, 
thing  that  he  had  said  on  this  matter,  but  also  to  assert    1559-75. 
more  to  the  same  effect. 

"  If  any  one  of  all  our  adversaries ,""  he  continued, 
"  be  able  clearly  and  plainly  to  prove,  by  such  authority 
of  the  Scrip tures,  the  old  doctors  and  councils  as  I  said 
before, 

"  That  it  was  lawful  for  the  priest  to  pronounce  the 
words  of  consecration  closely  and  in  silence  to  himself ; 

"  Or  that  the  priest  had  then  authority  to  offer  up 
Christ  unto  his  Father  ; 

"  Or  to  communicate  and  receive  the  sacrament  for 
another,  as  they  do  ; 

"  Or  to  apply  the  virtue  of  Christ's  death  and  passion 
to  any  man  by  means  of  the  mass  ; 

"Or  that  it  was  then  thought  a  sound  doctrine  to  teach 
the  people,  that  the  mass,  ex  opere  operate, — that  is,  even 
for  that  it  is  said  and  done, — is  able  to  remove  any  part 
of  our  sin  ; 

4t  Or  that  then  any  Christian  man  called  the  sacrament 
his  Lord  and  his  God ; 

"  Or  that  the  people  was  then  taught  to  believe,  that 
the  body  of  Christ  reinaineth  in  the  sacrament  as  long- 
as  the  accidents  of  bread  remain  there  without  corrup- 
tion ; 

"  Or  that  a  mouse  or  any  other,  worm  or  beast,  may 
eat  the  body  of  Christ  (for  so  some  of  our  adversaries 
have  said  and  taught) ; 

"  Or  that  when  Christ  said  Hoc  est  corpus  meum,  this 
hoc  pointeth  ndt  the  bread,  but  individuum  vagum ;  as 
some  of  them  say  ; 

"  Or  that  the  accidents,  or  forms,  or  shews  of  bread 


u\i:s  <>r  tin-; 


CHAP 
IX. 


Matthew 
Parker. 


and  wine,  be  the  sacraments  of  Christ's  body  and  blood, 
and  not  rather  the  very  bread  and  wine  itself ; 

"  Or  that  the  sacrament  is  a  sign  or  token  of  the  bod1 
1559-75.    of  Christ  that  lieth  hidden  underneath  it ; 

"  Or  that  ignorance  is  the  mother  and  cause  of  true 
devotion  and  obedience — these  be  the  highest  mysteries 
and  greatest  keys  of  their  religion,  and  without  them 
their  doctrines  can  never  be  maintained  and  stand  up- 
right ; 

"  If  any  one  of  all  our  adversaries  be  able  to  avouch 
any  one  of  all  these  articles,  by  any  such  sufficient  autho- 
rity of  Scriptures,  doctors,  or  councils  as  I  have  required, 
as  I  said  before,  so  say  I  now  again,  I  am  content  to 
yield  unto  him  and  to  subscribe.  But  I  am  well  assured 
that  they  shall  never  be  able  truly  to  allege  one  sentence. 
And  because  I  know  it,  therefore  I  speak  it,  lest  ye  hap- 
pily should  be  deceived."* 

We  are  not  in  these  pages  concerned  with  the  contro- 
versies to  which  this  celebrated  challenge  gave  rise  ;  but 
we  may  be  permitted  to  remark,  that  Jewel  proved  him- 
self to  be  equal  to  the  emergency,  and  rose  to  the  occa- 
sion. He  had,  as  a  polemic,  opened,  it  must  be  admitted, 
a  prodigious  length  of  line  to  the  attacks  of  his  opponents ; 
but  he  confidently  defied  the  enemy  to  find  one  assailable 
point  throughout  the  whole  of  it ;  and  we  can  truly  say  of 
this  distinguished  writer,  that,  in  all  essentials,  he  main- 
tained his  defences  against  the  combined  forces  of  an 
enemy  not  over  scrupulous  in  assertion* 

Parker  and  Jewel  were  now  brought  into  close  alliance ; 
find  the  former  rejoiced  to  find  in  his  protege  the  very 


*  The  whole  sermon  may  be  seen  in  the  Works  of  Bishop  Jewel 
(ed.  Parker  Soc.,  first  portion,  p.  3),  with  an  account  of  the  contro- 
versies which  arose  therefrom.  1  have  followed  in  the  above  statement 
the  copy  of  the  sermons  in  Jewel's  works,  published  in  1611. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  283 

qualifications  for  the  post  he  had  assumed,  and  in  which     chap. 
the  metropolitan  was  conscious  that  he  was  himself  de- 


ficient.     We   shall   hereafter  have   occasion  to  remark    ParkerT 
on  the   carelessness  with   which   Parker  permitted   his    1559-75. 
patronage  to  be  given  to  works  which  he  could  not  have 
examined  in  detail,  but  in  whose  authors  he  had  confi-  Apology 
dence.     Among  the  opinions  advanced  in  the  well-known  church  of 
Apology  for  the  Church  of  England,  there  were  some  Ensland- 
which  could  not  have  been  in  accordance  with  those  of 
Parker;    nevertheless,  the  primate  not  only  patronized 
the  work,  and  caused  it  to  be  circulated,  but,  acting  in  a 
manner  not  to  be  justified,  he  endeavoured  to  invest  it  with 
a  quasi-ecclesiastical  authority.    This  the  Church  repelled ; 
yet,   considering  the  age  and  circumstances  when  and 
under  which  the  Apology  was  produced,  it  may  justly 
be  styled  a  great  work.      It  was  in  the  year  1562  that 
the  celebrated  Apologia   Ecclesias  Anglicame   made  its 
appearance.     How  far  Parker  was  concerned  in  its  com- 
position we  know  not ;  but  some  share  in  the  work  he 
claims  for  himself  in  the  Prefatory  Epistle,  in  which  his 
sanction  to  Lady  Bacon's  English  version  is  conveyed. 

Versions  of  the  Apology  appeared  almost  immediately 
after  its  publication,  in  Italian,  French,  and  Spanish,  in 
German  and  Dutch,  and  lastly  in  the  Greek  language.* 
An  English  version  of  the  Apology  was  printed  almost 
contemporaneously  with  the  original  Latin.  It  was  at- 
tributed to  Archbishop  Parker ;  but  probably,  as  in  some 
of  his  other  works,  he  employed  a  chaplain  or  a  secretary 
to  make  the  translation,  while  he  himself  superintended 
aiid  corrected  it.  He  certainly  did  not  evince  the  jealousy 
of  authorship  when,  in  1564,  this  version  was  superseded 
by  a  translation  by  Lady  Bacon,f  the  wife  of  his  friend  the 

*  Wordsworth,  iv.  49.     In  1571  it  was  translated  into  Welsh. 

f  Lady  Bacon  was  one  of  the  five  daughters  of  Sir  Anthony  Cook,  of 


284 


LIVES   OF   T1IK 


CHAP. 
IX. 


lord  keeper,  and  the  mother  of  the  renowned  Lord  Bacon 
-  The  archbishop  received  a  copy  of  Lady  Bacon's  trail 

.Matthew     ,      .  .       ,__, 

Parker.      latlOll  111  MS. 


This  learned  and  accomplished  lady  hac 
ioo9-75.  at  the  same  time,  sent  a  copy  of  it  to  Jewel;  and,  nc 
content  with  having  translated  a  Latin  book  into  English, 
she  accompanied  her  performance  with  a  letter  in  Greek, 
to  which  the  bishop  responded  in  the  same  language. 
The  primate  examined  the  version  carefully,  and  both  Ik 
and  Jewel  himself  found  it  to  be  so  admirably  executec 
that  they  would  not  suggest  the  alteration  of  a  single  word. 
The  archbishop,  with  singular  good  taste,  instead  of  re- 
turning her  the  MS.,  sent  her  the  work  in  print.  It  was 
accompanied  by  a  letter  which  was  prefixed  to  the  trans- 
lation when  published,  and  which  served  as  the  imprimatur 
of  the  archbishop.  It  was  a  delicate  compliment.  It  might 
have  been,  he  hinted,  a  violation  of  confidence  to  print 
the  book  without  first  consulting  the  author ;  but  she 
would,  doubtless,  pardon  the  liberty  taken,  since  it  secured 
for  the  public  the  perusal  of  a  work  so  much  desired  for 
general  use,  and  at  the  same  time  spared  her  the  pain 
of  a  conflict  with  her  own  scrupulous  humility. 

The  Apology  was  published  with  the  sanction  of  the 
two  primates  and  their  suffragans,  and  under  the  authority 
of  the  queen.  To  the  English  version  Parker  attached, 
as  drawn  up  by  himself,  or  under  his  direction,  an  appendix 
which  contains  a  brief  sketch  of  the  Church  of  England 
as  it  then  existed,  "  with  a  list  of  the  bishoprics  and  an  ac- 
count of  the  lllliversities.,'  Although  this  tract  is  lon< 
yet*  as  it  conveys  important  information,  and  as  it  was  aL 


Sketch  of 
the  con- 
dition of 
the  Eng- 
lish 
Church. 


Gidea  Hall  in  £ssex.  Sir  Anthony  had  been  preceptor  to  Edward  VX 
All  his  daughters  were  women  of  learning.  They  were  good  Latin  and 
Greek  scholars ;  one  of  them,  Mildred,  was  the  wife  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's great  minister  Cecil.  In  the  illustrious  family  of  Salisbury  tin 
name  of  Mildred  is  still  retained,  and  held  in  honour. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF  CANTERBURY 


285 


the  composition  of  Parker,  it  shall  be  presented  to  the 
reader.  The  primate  desired  to  convey  the  information 
contained  in  the  tract  to  his  contemporaries  on  the  Con- 
tinent ;  and  to  us,  after  an  interval  of  more  than  three 
hundred  years,  it  must  be  interesting  to  see  how  the 
Church  of  England  stood  at  this  period. 

"  The  manner  how  the  Church  of  England  is  adminis- 
tered and  governed. 

"  The  Church  of  England  is]  n         ,  -,  xr    , 

...  .  _   _  .  .to  Canterbury  and  York, 

divided  into  two  provinces.      j 

"  The  province  of  Canterbury  hath 

"  The  archbishop  of  the  same,  who  is  primate  of  all 

England,  and  metropolitan* 


CHAP. 
IX. 

MattTieW 
Parker. 

1558-75. 


"  The  Bishop  of  London, 

-Winchester. 
Ely. 

Chichester. 
Hereford. 
Salisbury. 
Worcetor. 
Lincoln. 

The  Bishop  of  <j  Coventry  and  Lichfield. 
Bath  and  Wells. 
Norwich. 
Exeter. 
Eochester. 
Peterborough. 
St.  Davies. 
LSt.  Asaph. 


«  The  Bishop  of  { 


LlandafT. 
Bangor. 
Oxford. 

Gloucester,  and 
Bristowe. 


286 


LIVES   OF  Till-: 


CHAP. 
IX. 

^■ii  i  ■  ■  * 
Matthevr 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


"  The  province  of  York  hath 
"  The  archbishop  of  the  same,  who  is  also  primate  oi 
England  and  metropolitan. 

[Durham. 
"  The  Bishop  of  \  Carlisle,  and 
(Chester. 

"  Amongst  us  here  in  England  no  man  is  called  or  pre- 
ferred to  be  a  bishop,  except  he  have  first  received  the 
orders  of  priesthood,  and  be  well  able  to  instruct  the 
people  in  the  holy  Scriptures. 

"  Every  one  of  the  archbishops  and  bishops  have  their 
several  cathedral  churches ;  wherein  the  deans  bear  chief 
rule,  being  men  specially  chosen  both  for  their  learning 
and  godliness,  as  near  as  may  be. 

"  These  cathedral  churches  have  also  other  dignities  and 
canonries,  whereunto  be  assigned  no  idle  or  unprofitable 
persons,  but  such  as  either  be  preachers,  or  professors  of 
the  sciences  of  good  learning. 

"In  the  said  cathedral  churches,  upon  Sundays  and 
festival  days,  the  canons  make  ordinarily  special  sermons, 
whereunto  duly  resort  the  head  officers  of  the  cities  and 
the  citizens;  and  upon  the  workendays,  thrice  in  the 
week,  one  of  the  canons  doth  read  and  expound  some 
piece  of  holy  Scripture. 

"  Also  the  said  archbishops  and  bishops  have  under  them 
their  archdeacons,  some  two,  some  four,  some  six,  accord- 
ing to  the  largeness  of  the  diocese;  the  which  arch- 
deacons keep  yearly  two  visitations,  wherein  they  make 
diligent  inquisition  and  search,  both  of  the  doctrine  and 
behaviour,  as  well  of  the  ministers  as  of  the  people. 
They  punish  the  offenders  ;  and  if  any  errors  in  religion 
and  heresies  fortune  to  spring,  they  bring  those  and  other 
weighty  matters  before  the  bishops  themselves. 

"There   is   nothing  read  in   our   churches   but    the 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 


287 


canonical  Scriptures,  which  is  done  in  snch  order  as  that 
the  psalter  is  read  over  every  month,  the  New  Testament 
four  times  in  the  year,  and  the  Old  Testament  once  every 
year.  And,  if  the  curate  be  judged  of  the  bishop  to  be 
sufficiently  seen  in  the  holy  Scriptures,  he  doth  withal 
make  some  exposition  and  exhortation  unto  godliness. 

"  And,  forasmuch  as  our  churches  and  universities  have 
been  wonderfully  marred,  and  so  foully  brought  out  of 
all  fashion  in  time  of  papistry,  as  there  cannot  be  had 
learned  pastors  for  every  parish,  there  be  prescribed 
unto  the  curates  of  meaner  understanding  certain  homilies 
devised  by  learned  men,  which  do  comprehend  the  prin- 
cipal points  of  Christian  doctrine,  as  of  original  sin,  of 
justification,  of  faith,  of  charity,  and  such-like,  for  to  be 
read  by  them  unto  the  people. 

"  As  for  common  prayer,  the  lessons  taken  out  of  the 
Scriptures,  the  administering  of  the  sacraments,  and  the 
residue  of  service  done  in  the  churches,  are  every  whit 
done  in  the  vulgar  tongue  which  all  may  understand. 

"  Touching  the  universities, 

"Moreover,   this   realm   of)^     n    .-,  i  r\  r    j 

„,,,,  .       .  .      [Cambridge,  and  Oxford . 

England  hath  two  universities.  J 

"  And  the  manner  is  not  to  live  in  these  within  houses 
that  be  inns  or  a  receipt  for  common  guests,  as  is  the 
custom  of  some  universities  ;  but  they  live  in  colleges 
under  most  grave  and  severe  discipline,  even  such  as  the 
famous  learned  man  Erasmus  of  Eoterodame,  being  here 
amongst  us  about  forty  years  past,  was  bold  to  prefer 
before  the  very  rules  of  the  monks. 

"  In  Cambridge  be  xiiii  colleges,  these  by  name  that 
follow : — 


CHAP. 
IX. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


Trinity  College,  founded  by 
King  Henry  the  Eight. 


The  King's  College. 
St.  John's  College. 


CHAP. 

IX. 
i. .     ,       «* 

Matthew 

Parker. 

1559-70. 


Christ's  College. 

The  Queen's  College. 

Jesus  College, 

Rennet  College. 

Pembroke  College,  or  Pem- 
broke Hall, 

Peter    College,    or   Peter 
House. 


(1  unwell  and  Cains  Collei 

or  Hall. 
One  other  Trinity  Collegf 

or  Trinity  Hull. 
Clare  College,  or  Clare  Hall, 
St.  Katherine's   College,  or 

Katherin  Hall. 
Magdalene  College. 


"  In  Oxford  likewise  there  be  colleges,  some  greater, 
some  smaller,  to  the  number  of  four  and  twenty,  the 
names  whereof  be  as  followeth  : — 


The  Cathedral  Church  of 
Christ,  wherein  also  is  a 
great  company  of  students. 

Magdalene  College. 

New  College. 

Marten  College. 

All  Souls1  College. 

Corpus  Christi  College. 

Lincoln  College. 

Auriell  College. 

The  Queen's  College. 

Baylie  College,  or  Bailioll 
College. 

St.  John's  College. 


Trinity  College. 
Exeter  College. 
Brazen  Nose  College. 
The  University  College 
Gloucester  College. 
Brodegate  Hall. 
Heart  Hall. 
Magdalene  Hall. 
Alborne  Hall. 
St.  Mary  Hall. 
White  Hall. 
New  Inn. 
Edmoncl  Hall. 


"  And  besides  these  colleges  that  be  in  the  universities, 
this  realm  hath  also  certain  collegiate  churches,  as  West- 
minster, Windsor,  Eton,  and  Winchester.  The  two  last 
whereof  do  bring  up  and  find  a  great  number  of  young 
scholars,  the  which,  after  they  be  once  perfect  in  the  rules 
of  grammar  and  versifying,  and  well  entered  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Greek  tongue  and  of  rhetoric,  are  sent  from 
thence  unto  the  universities ;  as  thus  :  out  of  Eton  College 
they  be  sent  unto  the  King's  College  at  Cambridge,  and 
out  of  Winchester  into  the  New  College  at  Oxford. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  289 

"  The  colleges  of  both  the  universities  be  not  only  very     Cj^P* 
fair  and  goodly  built,  through  the  exceeding  liberality  of  ^ — ' 
the  kings  in  old  time  and  of  late  days,  of  bishops  and  of    Parker. 
noblemen,  but  they  be  also  endowed  with  marvellous    1559~75- 
large  livings  and  revenues. 

"In  Trinity  College  at  Cambridge,  and  in  Christ's 
College  at  Oxford,  both  which  were  founded  by  King 
Henry  the  Eight  of  most  famous  memory,  are  at  the  least 
found  four  hundred  scholars,  and  the  like  number  well 
near  is  to  be  seen  in  certain  other  colleges,  as  in  the 
King's  College  and  St.  John's  College  at  Cambridge ;  in 
Magdalene  College  and  New  College  of  Oxford,  besides 
the  rest  which  we  now  pass  over, 

"  Every  one  of  the  colleges  have  their  professors  of  the 
tongues  and  of  the  liberal  sciences  (as  they  call  them), 
which  do  train  up  youth  privately  within  their  halls,  to 
the  end  they  may  afterward  be  able  to  go  forth  thence 
into  the  common  schools  as  to  open  disputation,  as  it  were 
into  plain  battle,  there  to  try  themself. 

"  In  the  common  schools  of  both  the  universities  there 
are  found  at  the  king's  charge,  and  that  very  largely,  five 
professors  and  readers,  that  is  to  say, — 

The  Reader  of  Divinity, 

The  Reader  of  the  Civil  Law, 

The  Reader  of  Physic, 

The  Reader  of  the  Hebrew  tongue,  and 

The  Reader  of  the  Greek  tongue. 

And  for  the  other  professors,  as  of  philosophy,  of  logic,  of 
rhetoric,  and  of  the  mathematicals,  the  universities  them- 
selves do  allow  stipends  unto  them.  And  these  professors 
have  the  ruling  of  the  disputations  and  other  school 
exercises  which  be  daily  used  in  the  common  schools, 
amongst  whom  they  that  by  the  same  disputations  and 
exercises  are  thought  to  be  come  to  any  ripeness  in 
VOL.  ix.  u 


290  lives  of  tup: 

chap,     knowledge,  are  wont,  according  to  the  use  in  other  uni 
» — .- — '  versities,  solemnly  to  take  degrees,  every  one  in  the  sai 

Parker,     science  and  faculty  which  he  professeth. 

1559-75.  "  We  thought  good  to  annex  these  things,  to  the  end  we 
might  confute  and  confound  those  that  spread  abroad 
rumours,  how  that  with  us  nothing  is  done  in  order,  and 
as  ought  to  be  done,  that  there  is  no  religion  at  all,  no 
ecclesiastical  discipline  observed,  no  regard  had  of  the 
salvation  of  men's  souls  ;  but  that  all  is  done  quite  out  of 
order  and  seditiously,  that  all  antiquity  is  despised,  that 
liberty  is  given  to  all  sensuality  and  lewd  lusts  of  folks, 
that  the  livings  of  the  church  be  converted  to  profane 
and  worldly  uses  ;  whereas  in  very  truth  we  seek  nothing 
else  but  that  that  God  above  all  most  good  may  have 
still  his  honour  truly  and  purely  reserved  unto  him  ;  that 
the  rule  and  way  to  everlasting  salvation  may  be  taken 
from  out  of  his  very  word,  and  not  from  men's  fantasies  ; 
that  the  sacraments  may  be  ministered  not  like  a  masquery 
or  a  stage-play,  but  religiously  and  reverently,  according 
to  the  rule  prescribed  unto  us  by  Christ,  and  after  the 
example  of  the  holy  fathers  which  flourished  in  the  primi- 
tive Church  ;  that  that  most  holy  and  godly  form  of  dis- 
cipline, which  was  commonly  used  amongst  them,  may  be 
called  home  again  ;  that  the  goods  of  the  church  may  not 
be  launched  out  amongst  worldlings  and  idle  persons,  but 
may  be  bestowed  upon  the  godly  ministers  and  pastors 
which  take  pain  both  in  preaching  and  teaching  ;  that 
there  may  from  time  to  time  arise  up  out  of  the  universi- 
ties learned  and  good  ministers,  and  others  meet  to  serve 
the  commonwealth ;  and  finally  that  all  unclean  and 
wicked  life  may  be  utterly  abandoned  and  banished,  as 
unworthy  for  the  name  of  any  Christian.  And,  albeit  we 
are  not  as  yet  able  to  obtain  this  that  we  have  said,  fully 
and  perfitly  (for  this  same  stable,  as  one  may  rightly  call 


ARCHBISHOPS   OP   CANTERBURY. 


291 


it,  of  the  Eomish  Augias,  cannot  so  soon  be  thoroughly 
cleansed  and  rid  from  the  long  grown  filth  and  muck) ; 
nevertheless  this  is  it  whereunto  we  have  regard  ;  hither 
do  we  tend;  to  this  mark  do  we  direct  our  pain  and 
travail,  and  that  hitherto  (thorough  God  his  gracious 
favour)  not  without  good  success  and  plenteous  increase, 
which  thing  may  easily  appear  to  everybody,  if  either  we 
be  compared  with  our  own  selves,  in  what  manner  of  case 
we  have  been  but  few  years  since,  or  else  be  compared 
with  our  false  accusers,  or  rather  our  malicious  slanderers. 
"  The  Lord  defend  his  Church,  govern  it  with  his  Holy 
Spirit,  and  bless  the  same  with  all  prosperous  felicity. 
Amen. 


"  * 


CHAP. 
IX. 

» , — — » 

Matthew- 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


Jewel's  Works,  ed.  Parker  Soc.,  p.  109. 


u2 


292  lives  of  Tin: 


CHAPTER  X. 

PREPARATIONS   FOR   CONVOCATION. 

Authority  of  a  Metropolitan. — Powers  of  Convocation. — Prohibited 
degrees  of  marriage. — Lax  notion  among  Protestants  on  the  subject 
of  marriage. — Latin  version  of  the  Prayer  Book. — Office  in  behalf 
of  benefactors. — Communion  office  at  funerals. — Re-introduction  of 
the  Catholic  Calendar,  and  its  reformation. — The  Lectionary. — 
Second  Book  of  Homilies. — The  Great  Bible. — The  Geneva  Bible. — 
Bishops'  Bible. — Parker's  selection  of  translators. — Thirty-nine 
Articles. — Articles  as  much  opposed  to  ultra-Protestantism  as  to 
Popery. 

chap.     To    the    approaching   Convocation   the   primate   looked 

_^ -  forward  with    considerable   anxiety,  and  he  desired   to 

Parked  settle  by  his  metropolitan  authority,  beforehand,  some 
1559-75.  questions  which,  if  left  open  for  discussion,  would  give 
rise  to  angry  debates,  and  to  controversies  in  which  he 
could  not  calculate  with  certainty  upon  obtaining  the 
support  of  friends  whose  undoubted  wisdom  was  equalled 
by  a  timidity  not  less  indisputable.  If  among  the  leading 
statesmen  he  had  secured  a  majority  in  favour  of  the 
English  principles  of  Eeformation,  he  had  not  been 
successful  in  enkindling  an  enthusiasm  in  his  supporters, 
while  his  Calvinistic  opponents  were  able,  not  only  to 
produce  among  their  numbers  men  of  unquestioned  and 
unquestionable  learning  and  piety,  but  men  of  erudition 
whose  enthusiasm  amounted  not  unfrequently  to  fana- 
ticism. He  was,  like  his  royal  mistress,  opposed  to  the 
Calvinism  which    had  in  this  country  triumphed  over 


ARCHBISHOPS   OP   CANTERBURY.  293 

Lutheranism  ;  but  no  man  can  extricate  himself  entirely     chap. 

from  the  predominant  feelings  of  the  age  in  which  he  * %i - 

lives  ;  and  we  shall  find  Parker,  in  his  hostility  to  popery,     patkerT 
sometimes  the  unconscious  advocate  of  ultra-Protestant    1559-75. 
notions,  to  which  in  his  deliberate  actions  he  was  hostile 
to  the  last. 

Supplemented   by  the   royal  prerogative,  his   powers  Powers  of 
were  unquestionably  great,  and  what  they  were  I  shall  p0?ittn°.~ 
state  in  the  language  of  one  who,  if  his  logic  be  not 
always  correct,  is  scrupulously  accurate  in  his  statements 
of  fact. 

The  powers  of  the  archbishop,  Dr.  Cardwell  observes, 
"  great  in  themselves,  and  still  greater  when  viewed  in 
his  high  station,  as  president  of  a  synod,  had  recently 
been  augmented  in  the  eyes  of  true  churchmen  by  the 
rejection  of  the  pope,  and  the  supposed  transfer  of  the 
most  sacred  elements  of  his  office  to  the  primate.  To 
aid  this  impression  there  was  a  tradition  in  the  Church, 
that,  in  ancient  times,  he  was  invested  with  the  authority 
of  a  patriarch ;  and  it  was  a  natural  consequence,  that 
when  the  Eoman  pontiff  had  been  stripped  of  this,  as  well 
as  other  usurpations,  it  would  revert,  whatever  might 
be  the  amount  of  it,  to  its  original  possessor.  In  the 
earlier  periods,  accordingly,  that  followed  the  Eeforma- 
tion,  when  the  conditions  of  the  visible  Church  were 
generally  understood,  and  the  necessity  of  a  spiritual  head 
to  preside  over  it  was  distinctly  acknowledged,  the  power 
of  the  archbishop  was  a  most  effective  instrument  for 
Church  government."*     This  writer  refers  to  the  Canons 

*  Cardwell,  Synodalia,  xi.  xvii.  The  powers  of  the  metropolitan 
remain  in  theory  as  they  were  originally ;  but  they  have  ceased  to  be 
exercised.  So  many  among  our  later  primates  have  suffered  themselves 
to  succumb  to  the  civil  power,  that  they  have  lost  much  of  the  moral 
influence  over  the  minds  of  the  clergy  which  they  did  at  one  time 


Convoca 
tion. 


294  LIVES   OP   THE 

chap.     °f  1571,  "  upon  which  it  was  fully  agreed  in  the  Synod 

x-    „  by  the  Lord  Matthew,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  all 

Bu&eW    ^ie  rest  °^  tne  ^snoPs  °f  ^U8  province — that  constitutions 

1559-75.   might  be  made  by  the  sole  authority  of  the  archbishop 

and  his  commissioned  bishops." 
Powers  in  The  primate  retained  for  himself,  when  a  Convocation 
was  called,  the  right  of  placing  a  veto  on  its  proceedings ; 
a  power  which  he  did  not  delegate  to  his  locum  tenens, 
when,  unable  to  preside  personally  at  a  Convocation,  he 
appointed  a  deputy.  He  exercised  also  the  sole  right  to 
give  leave  of  absence  to  a  member  of  either  house  ;  and  as 
this  might  easily  be  obtained  where  there  was  a  reasonable 
cause,  a  neglect  of  attendance  without  leave  first  obtained 
deprived  the  offender  of  any  reasonable  excuse.  It 
rested  with  the  primate  to  call  for  proxies  or  to  refuse 
them,  and  to  decide  upon  controverted  elections. 

The  House  of  Bishops,  we  are  told,  uniformly  asserted 
and  maintained  their  superiority  over  the  Lower  House. 
The  lower  clergy,  however,  could  present  petitions  contain- 
ing complaints  and  suggestions,  could  offer  amendments 
on  the  propositions  of  bishops,  or  render  them  of  no  effect 
by  finally  dissenting  from  them.  This  disparity,  it  was 
affirmed,  resulted  naturally  from  the  authority  possessed 
by  the  bishops  individually  over  their  respective  pres- 
byters, from  the  higher  kind  of  sacredness  attaching  to 
their  order,  which,  to  the  disgust  of  the  non-conforming 
Puritans,  was  one  of  the  constant  principles  of  Elizabeth's 
conduct 

possess.  The  suffragans  have  gradually  assumed  an  independence 
which  they  did  not  formerly  possess,  and  have  become  what  the 
ancients  called  some  among  their  contemporaries,  avroKecpaXoi.  In  the 
United  States  of  America,  the  senior  among  the  bishops  acts  as  president 
when  the  Church  assembles  in  council.  Already  that  important  branch 
of  the  Church  is  feeling  its  way  for  remedying  this  defect. 


•     ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  295 

The  same  author,  writing  under  the  influence  of  the     chap. 


liberal  notions  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  prepared  as  - 


x. 


an  archaeologist  and  historian  to  state  the  facts  of  history    Parker. 
as  he  finds  them,  concludes  his  preface  to  the  Synodalia    1559-75. 
by  reminding  his  readers,  that  "  the  power  of  a  bishop 
over   his   clergy  is   great   in   itself  and   in   its  judicial 
functions  ;  but  it  is  still  greater  in  their  estimation  of 
it,  when  they  think  of  him  and  of  themselves  in  their 
spiritual  character ;  of  him  as  the  depositary  of  sacred 
influence,  and  of  themselves  as  under  him  the  ministers 
and  dispensers  of  it.     And  if  there  are  any  among  them 
with  whom  such  motives  make  no  impression,  and  the 
strong   arm   of    the   law   is   the   only    valid   argument, 
the  bishop  is  supported  by  the  acts  of  the  legislature, 
and   the    civil  sword   is   placed   in   his   hands   for   the 
punishment  of  evil-doers.     And  whatever  considerations 
of  the  kind   apply   to   any   single  bishop,    they   apply 
with  increased  effect   to   the  primate,   than   whom   we 
acknowledge  no  higher  spiritual  person  upon  earth.     If 
then,  apart  from  the  wide  range  of  his  judicial  powers, 
we  suppose  him  to  have  taken  counsel  with  his  suffragans, 
and  to  express  his  opinion  on   a  question  on  which  any 
members  of  the  Church  have  honestly  been  seeking  for  itj 
there  can  scarcely  be  desired  an  authority  more  conclusive 
with  the  parties  themselves,  or  more  closely  in  accordance 
with  the  primitive    pattern.     In    a   Church   indeed — or 
rather  a  branch  of  the  Church — united  with  the  State, 
such  opinions  are  not  of  the  nature  of  decrees  and  ordi- 
nances, and  cannot  be  enforced  by  penances  and  excommu- 
nications ;  but  they  carry  with  them  a  moral  and  spiritual 
force  which  would  be  decisive  to  all  reasonable  minds, 
and  to  a  Christian  temper  would  be  irresistible."  * 

*  Synodalia,  p.  xxvii. 


296  LIVES    OF   THE 

chap.         I  have  been  desirous  of  placing  before  the  reader  the 
_J^ — *  principles  which  were  recognized  to  their  full  extent  by 
Parked    Archbishop  Parker,  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  by  her  great 
1559-75.    minister  Cecil,  afterwards   Lord  Burghley,  and,  though 
with  less  intelligence,  by  others  of  her  Council.     I  do 
this  the  rather,  because,  in  the  course  of  this  narrative, 
it  will  be  my  painful  duty  to  record  very  frequent  de- 
viations from  this  and  from  other  recognized  principles, 
not  only  on  the  part  of  professed  politicians  such  as  the 
queen  and  Lord  Burghley,  but  even  on  the  part  of  Parker 
himself.     For  reasons  of  state,  from  motives  of  expe- 
diency, with  a  view  to  conciliation,  great  principles  were 
sometimes  set  aside,  although  the  unhappy  individual  who 
should  refuse  to  adhere  to  them  theoretically  would  be 
subjected  to  the  higher  penalties  enacted  by  the  law,  of 
which  they  were  regarded  as  a  foundation.     We  have 
thus  exhibited  various  apparent  inconsistencies  between 
our  theory  and  our  conduct ;  and  we  have  sometimes  to 
refer  to  our  great  English  reformers,  to  ascertain  what 
they  said,  or  what  they  attempted,  rather  than  what  they 
did. 

Before  the  meeting  of  Convocation,  Archbishop  Parker 
carefully   reviewed   his   position.      There   were   certain 
principles  to  be  enforced,  and  rules  of  conduct  to  be  laid 
down,  which,  if  brought  under  discussion  before  a  pro- 
miscuous and  disunited  assembly,  would,  while  provoking 
debate,  be  scarcely  conducted  to  an  amicable  conclusion 
or  a  satisfactory  arrangement. 
Laxity  of        One  subject  there  was  of  great  importance  and  peculiar 
marriage,    delicacy,  upon  which  it  was  desirable  to  avoid  a  dis- 
cussion  if  possible ;  and   by  the  joint  exercise  of  the 
temporal  and  spiritual  powers  vested  in  the  crown  and 
the  mitre,  to  forestall  debate  by  enactment.     The  course 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF    CANTERBURY.  297 

Parker  pursued  did  not  provoke  the  opposition  which 
might  have  been  anticipated,  from  the  conviction  which 
prevailed  in  every  class,  that  the  very  existence  of  society 
was  endangered  by  the  lax  state  of  the  law  of  marriage, 
and  the  yet  greater  and  more  unprincipled  laxity  in  its 
administration. 

In  the  medieval  Church  the  laws  relating  to  matrimony 
had  never  been  sufficiently  stringent ;  or  we  ought,  per- 
haps, to  describe  them  as  being  so  stringent  as  to  render 
the  strict  observance  of  them  a  thing  impossible.  As 
regarded  the  degrees  of  consanguinity  and  affinity  within 
which  matrimony  might  be  contracted,  the  prohibitions 
extended  to  persons  so  remotely  connected,  that  it  was 
scarcely  possible  to  avoid  a  lawsuit,  if  it  became  the 
interest  of  any  persons  to  dispute  the  legitimacy  of  a 
marriage. 

The  wealthier  classes  made  security  doubly  sure  by 
having  recourse  to  dispensations  which  would  cover  all 
objections  ;  and  which,  in  their  appetence  for  fees,  the 
authorities  at  Kome  or  their  delegates  in  the  provinces 
were  not  slow  to  grant.  We  have  had  occasion  to  show, 
in  the  Introductory  chapter  to  this  Book,  that  among  the 
indirect  causes  of  the  Eeformation  in  this  country,  we 
have  to  mention  the  irritating  prosecutions  carried  on  or 
threatened  in  the  lower  ecclesiastical  courts,  which  had 
reference  chiefly  to  an  evasion  or  an  ignorance  of  those 
laws  upon  an  observance  or  upon  a  neglect  of  which  the 
peace  of  families  might  be  disturbed. 

We  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that,  owing  to  this 
mystification  of  the  law  of  marriage,  as  well  as  to  the 
depreciation  of  the  holy  estate  implied  in  the  enforced 
celibacy  of  the  clergy,  a  great  demoralization  of  society 
prevailed.     Of  this  demoralization  we  have  a  fearful  ac- 


1559-75. 


298 


LIVES    OF   THE 


CHAP. 
X. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-7-3. 


Loose 
notions  of 
matrimony 
among  the 
Protes- 
tants. 


count  in  the  preamble  of  a  statute  introduced  in  the 
year  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  with  the  object  i 
view  of  providing  a  remedy  for  an  evil,  of  which  th 
existence  could  not  be  denied.  In  this  preamble  there  is 
allusion  to  "  the  many  inconveniences  occasioned  by 
reason  of  marrying  within  the  degrees  proliibite 
by  God's  laws ;  that  is  to  say,  the  son  to  marry 
the  mother  or  stepmother ;  the  brother  the  sister ;  the 
father  the  son's  daughter  or  his  daughter's  daughter ;  or 
the  son  to  marry  the  daughter  of  his  father  procreate 
and  born  by  his  stepmother ;  or  the  son  to  marry  his 
aunt,  being  his  father's  or  mother's  sister ;  or  to  marry 
his  uncle's  wife,  or  any  man  to  marry  his  wife's  daughter, 
or  his  wife's  daughter's  daughter,  or  his  wife's  sister." 

I  have  quoted  this  passage  to  show  the  demoralized 
state  of  society,  as  admitted  in  an  authoritative  statement 
made  by  the  legislators  of  that  period.  They  admitted 
the  evil.  They  proposed  a  remedy.  But  nothing  was 
done.  The  act  proposing  measures  to  meet  the  evil  was 
soon  after  repealed. 

The  case,  therefore,  came  before  Parker,  thus  : — There 
was  a  law  upon  the  subject,  but  the  law  was  in  itself  so 
strict,  that  it  was  brought  under  the  control  of  another 
law,  and  dispensations  for  its  infraction  were  easily  ob- 
tained. But  these  dispensations,  which  gave  a  practical 
efficacy  to  the  law,  were  granted  on  the  authority  of  the 
Eomish  courts  ;  and  when  an  application  to  the  court  of 
Borne  for  a  dispensation  involved  the  plaintiff  in  the 
penalties  of  a  praemunire,  such  dispensations  were  not  to 
be  obtained,  and  every  one  did,  as  we  have  just  seen, 
what  appeared  right  in  his  own  eyes,  or  in  accordance 
with  his  unrestrained  passion. 

Among  the  continental  reformers,  very  loose  notions  on 
the  subject  of  matrimony  prevailed ;  as  Parker  must  have 


7 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  299 

been  made  aware  in  the  conversations  he  held  with  his     chap. 

friend  Martin  Bncer,  for  Bucer  had  borne  a  part,  and  __i . 

not  a  very  reputable  part,  in  the  controversies  on  this  p^oT 
subject,  in  which  his  friends  Luther,  Melancthon,  and  1559-75. 
other  Protestants  were  involved.  Luther,  Melancthon, 
and  other  reformers  of  that  school,  including  Bucer 
himself,  had  even  gone  to  the  length  of  admitting,  that 
polygamy,  under  certain  circumstances,  might  be  regarded 
as  lawful ;  and  they  seemed  to  have  been  only  restrained 
from  asserting  their  opinion  by  an  intuitive  perception, 
that  it  would  shock  the  public  opinion  of  Europe,  and 
strengthen  the  hands  of  their  opponents. 

To  a  certain  extent  they  came  to  the  same  conclusion, 
or  nearly  so,  with  the  Eomanists.  In  a  celebrated  cause 
they  were  hard  pressed  to  permit  a  German  prince  to 
marry  a  second  wife  while  his  first  wife  was  still  living  :  it 
was  asserted,  that  the  law  of  God  did  not  prohibit  po- 
lygamy; the  prohibition  resting,  not  on  divine  command, 
but  on  human  law.  It  was  argued,  that  what  was  enacted 
by  man  might  be  by  man  repealed :  so  that  the  question 
was,  not  merely  whether  a  dispensation  might  be  granted, 
but  simply,  from  whom  the  dispensation  was  to  emanate. 
The  Eomanists  said  from  the  pope,  the  Protestants  from 
the  Emperor.* 

*  The  learned  reader  will  understand  that  I  am  alluding  to  the  case 
of  Philip  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  a  case  which  reflects  disgrace  upon  all 
who  were  concerned  in  it.  The  Landgrave  was  himself  a  coarse, 
vulgar,  bloated  Sybarite,  and  in  language  the  more  offensive  from  the 
fact  that  he  did  not  himself  perceive  the  offensiveness  of  it,  he  demanded 
of  the  German  reformers  permission  to  take  unto  himself  a  second 
wife — because  he  had  ceased  to  regard  his  first  wife  with  affection, 
though  she  was  still  living,  and  had  been  the  mother  of  many  children. 
He  employed  Martin  Bucer  to  negotiate  with  Luther,  Melancthon,  and 
other  great  foreign  reformers  on  the  subject.  His  patronage  and  pro- 
tection they  could  retain  on  no  other  terms.    His  plea  is  almost  comical. 


300  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap.         To  this  case  and  to  these  circumstances  allusion 

1, .  made,  in  order  that  the  reader  may  clearly  understand  the 

Parked  extreme  difficulties  of  the  case,  through  sophistry  am 
1559-75.  argument,  and  laxity  in  morals,  when  Parker  was  re- 
quired to  legislate.  One  thing  was  certain,  the  time  had 
come  when  something  must  be  done.  The  controversial 
temper  with  which  the  question  had  been  met,  was  sucli 
as  to  render  it  advisable  not  to  submit  it  to  a  discussion 
in  parliament  or  in  Convocation.  There  was,  however, 
sufficient  authority,  as  we  have  already  pointed  out,  to 
create  and  enforce  a  law  upon  the  subject ;  and  the  arch- 
bishop saw  his  way.  The  political  difficulties  which  the 
continental  reformers  had  to  meet  were  not  in  the  way 
of  Parker.  His  opponents  were  the  Puritans.  Church- 
men were  ready  to  support  him  when  he  laid  down  the 
law,  provided  that  he  did  not  run  counter  to  Scripture  and 
the  primitive  Church.  Puritans,  on  the  other  hand, 
cared  nothing  for  his  metropolitan  authority  ;  they  must 
have  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  only.  When  reference  was 
made  to  the  Bible,  the  New  Testament  was  silent  upon 
the  subject ;  but  the  Puritans  accepted  the  Old  Testament 
as  the  word  of  God  ;  and  by  this  authority,  although  the 

He  ought  to  set  an  example  to  his  people  to  receive  the  Lord's  Supper; 
but  he  could  not  receive  the  Lord's  Supper  if  he  was  living  in  open 
violation  of  the  laws  of  morality — therefore  the  laws  of  morality  should 
be  changed,  at  all  events,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned.  He  quotes  in 
favour  of  polygamy  the  fathers  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  he  states 
undoubtedly  that  both  Luther  and  Melancthon  had  advised  Henry  VIII. 
not  to  put  away  his  wife  Queen  Katharine,  but  to  make  Anne  Boleyn 
also  his  wife.  The  Landgrave  threatened,  if  the  reformers  would  not 
accede  to  his  wishes,  to  seek  through  the  Emperor  a  dispensation 
from  the  pope,  though  his  hatred  of  the  pope  was  unabated.  Luther, 
Melancthon,  Bucer,  and  others,  in  an  able  document,  refuted  the  argu- 
ments of  the  Landgrave;  but  they  concluded,  if  they  could  not  persuade 
him  to  be  contented  with  one  wife,  by  promising  him  a  dispensation, 
on  the  condition  that  he  should  keep  his  second  wife  a  secret. 


AECHBISIIOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  301 

Mosaic  law  is  no  longer  in  force,  Archbishop  Parker  pro- 
posed to  be  ruled. 

Considered  abstractedly,  this  was  not  the  wisest  course  ^rkeT 
that  could  have  been  pursued  ;  but  under  the  given  cir-  1559-75. 
cumstances  it  is  difficult  to  surmise  a  safer  mode  of  pro- 
ceeding ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  fewer  difficulties 
have  resulted  from  Parker's  legislation  than  lawyers  were, 
at  one  time,  inclined  to  anticipate  and  predict.  The 
archbishop  professed  to  adapt  to  the  exigences  of  the 
existing  Church  the  scriptural  principles  as  laid  down  in 
the  eighteenth  and  twentieth  chapters  of  Leviticus.  He 
assumed  that  the  degrees  which  are  laid  down  as  to  men 
will  hold  equally  as  to  women  in  the  same  proximity ; 
that  the  husband  and  wife  being  but  one  flesh,  he  who 
is  related  to  the  one  by  consanguinity  is  related  to  the 
other  by  affinity  in  the  same  degree. 

The  table,  when  drawn  up,  was  issued  by  the  sole  au- 
thority of  the  archbishop.  It  has  been  slightly  altered 
by  subsequent  legislation,  but  remains,  substantially,  to 
the  present  time,  the  law  of  the  Church  and  realm.  Par- 
ker published  contemporaneously,  "  An  Admonition  for 
the  Present  Time,  with  a  still  further  Consultation  of  all 
such  as  intend  hereafter  to  enter  into  the  Estate  of  Matri- 
mony godly  and  agreeable  to  Law."  * 

*  The  case  of  marrying  a  wife's  sister  has  occasioned  some  dispute, 
although,  as  Bishop  Jewel  observed,  if  we  are  forbidden  to  marry  a 
brothers  wife,  it  follows  that  we  are  forbidden  to  marry  a  wife's 
sister  :  "  For  between  one  man  and  two  sisters,  and  one  woman  and 
two  brothers,  is  the  like  an  analogy  or  proportion."  Such  marriages, 
however,  not  being  void  db  initio,  but  voidable  only  by  order  of 
separation  to  be  made  in  an  Ecclesiastical  Court,  they  were  esteemed 
valid  to  all  civil  purposes,  unless  separation  was  actually  made  during 
the  life  of  the  parties.  Such  was  the  law  until  the  year  1835,  when 
an  act  was  passed,  which,  after  legalizing  certain  former  marriages, 
enacted  that  all  marriages  that  shou'd  hereafter  be  celebrated  between 


302  LIVES    OP   THE 

chap.         This  admonition  was  duly  printed,  and  an  order  was 

« r. — .  given  for  its  being  set  up  in  every  church.     A  copy  is  pre- 

Pa,k^    served  in  the  library  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge, 

1559-75.   with  the  archbishop's  marks  of  revision  made  by  his  well- 
known  red  pencil ;   and  it  exists  as  a  perpetual  monument 
of  his  industry  and  caution. 
Latin  The  performance  of  Divine  Service  in  the  Latin  lan- 

Frayer  L 

Book.  guage  having  been  permitted  in  the  chapels  of  the  uni- 
versities and  of  the  two  great  public  schools  of  Winches- 
ter and  Eton,  it  became  necessary  to  prepare  and  autho- 
rize a  Latin  version  of  the  Liturgy  and  other  offices  of 
the  Church.  Of  the  first  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  a 
translation  was  in  existence,  and  instead  of  making  a  ver- 
sion of  the  "  Use  "  which  had  just  been  accepted  by  par- 
liament and  embodied  in  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  the 
archbishop  determined  on  a  revision  of  the  existing  Latin 
Prayer  Book,  and  he  intrusted  the  work  to  one  of  the 
learned  men  of  the  day  most  competent  for  the  task, 
Walter  Haddon.  The  former  translation  had  been  made 
by  Alexander  Aless,  a  canon  regular  of  St.  Andrew's,  in 
Scotland,  of  whom  notice  has  been  taken  in  the  life  of 
Cranmer.  It  was  not  the  work  of  an  accomplished  scholar, 
and  if  Haddon,  a  man  of  learning  as  well  as  a  divine, 
had  wished  to  save  himself  trouble,  he  would  have  found 
it  easier  to  make  an  entirely  new  translation  than  to 
revise  the  old  one ;  but  this  was  not  what  his  employers 
desired. 

The  object  of  the  archbishop  and  his  associates  was  to 
give  a  quasi-authority  to  the  first  Book  of  King  Edward. 
Although,  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  another  "  Use  "  had 
been  adopted  for  the  public  services  of  the  Church,  yet 

persons  within  the  prohibited  degrees  of  consanguinity  and  affinity 
should  be  "  absolutely  null  and  void  to  all  intents  and  purposes  what- 
soever." 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF    CANTERBURY.  303 

no  valid  objection  could  be  produced  against  the  con-    chap. 

temporaneous  use  of  the  first  Prayer  Book  by  learned  . ^ — * 

men.  The  queen  and  her  advisers  would  have  esta-  parked 
blished  that  Book,  but  yielded,  as  an  act  of  policy,  to  1559-75. 
the  Puritans,  who  complained  that  practices  were  there 
enjoined  which  might  generate  superstition  in  the  minds 
of  the  uneducated  ;  but  the  Prayer  Book  itself  they  could 
not  venture  to  decry,  because  by  this  Church  and  realm 
it  had  been  accepted  as  the  inspired  work  of  God  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  and  the  objection  before  noticed  would  not 
be  applicable  to  the  men  of  learning  for  whom  alone  the 
Latin  version  was  designed. 

The  Church  had  been  long  accustomed  to  various 
"  Uses,"  or  different  Prayer  Books,  of  which  it  could  be 
said  with  reference  to  each, 

Facies  non  omnibus  una 
Nee  di versa  tamen,  quales  decet  esse  sore-rum  ; 

and  consequently  there  was  no  reason  why  there  should 
not  be  one  "  Use  "  for  the  parishes,  and  another  for  the 
Universities.  The  archbishop  went  further.  The  clergy 
were  required  to  repeat  daily  the  matins  and  the  even- 
song. If  this  were  done  in  the  congregation,  they  were 
under  an  obligation  to  use  the  new  Prayer  Book  ;  but  if 
there  were  no  congregation,  then,  in  repeating  the  offices, 
they  were  authorized  to  use  the  Latin  form  to  which 
they  had  been  accustomed,  when  pursuing  their  early 
studies  at  school  or  college. 

Parker  and  the  English  reformers,  though  to  the  last 
approving  of  the  revision  of  the  Prayer  Book,  published 
in  the  first  instance  on  their  own  authority,  regretted, 
nevertheless,  the  omission  of  certain  Catholic  practices, 
upon  which,  in  their  superstitious  dread  of  superstition, 
their  Puritan  coadjutors  had  insisted.     And  knowing  the 


: 


304  LIVES   OP  THE 

chap,     truth  involved  in  the  saying,  legem  credendi  lex  statuat  sup* 
-. — ,- — •  plicandi,   they   seized    the   present  opportunity,   not  t( 
Parked    supersede  the  last  Prayer  Book,  but  to  attach  also 
15,39-75.    quasi-authority  to  the  first  Book  of  Edward  VI.* 

On  the  same  principle  Parker  introduced  a  formulary,  i 
which  our  communion  with  holy  ones  departed  appear 
to  be  recognized.     Prayers  and  thanksgivings  continued 
to  be  offered  in  the  colleges,  in  grateful  recollection  of 
Prayer  for  founders  and  benefactors  ;  but   since  the  Eeformation  n 
tors.  particular  form  had  been  prescribed.     Eecourse,  unde 

these  circumstances,  was  had  to  the  ancient  forms,  objec- 
tionable on  account  of  their  reference  to  purgatory  ;  while 
the  Puritans  were  not  without  hope  that  the  office  would 
be  discontinued.  Parker  adopted  the  middle  course,  and 
gave  to  the  Universities  a  reformed  formulary,  under  th< 
title  of  In  Commendationibus  Benefactorum . 
Commu-  The  Latin  Prayer  Book  contained   also   a   Celebratio 

the^ead.     coence  Domini  in  funeribus,  si  amiciet  vicini  defuncti  com- 
municare  velint. 

Other  works  were  also  sanctioned  by  Archbishop 
Parker,  and  were  issued  by  his  authority  as  the  metro- 
politan, with  the  imprimatur  of  the  sovereign  ;  namely,  a 
Primer  or  Orarium,  and  a  Latin  Book  of  Devotions : 
JPreces  Privates  in  Studiosorum  gratiam  collectce. 

The  English  Prayer  Book  had  been  remodelled  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  middle  class — a  class  now  indulging 
in  theological  discussion  without  sufficient  learning  to 
arrive  always  at  a  right  conclusion.  The  Latin  works 
were  an  appeal  to  the  more  learned,  in  the  hope  that,  if 
further  alterations   should   be   required    (and  that  such 

*  By  modern  writers  surprise  is  expressed  at  Haddon's  contenting 
himself  with  correcting  an  imperfect  version  of  the  Prayer  Book,  and 
he  is  accused  of  indolence  or  carelessness.  He  is  acquitted,  however, 
when  the  circumstances  mentioned  above  are  taken  into  considerate 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF    CANTERBURY.  305 

would  be  the    case   there  was   little  doubt),   the  alter-  chap. 

ations   would  take  a  Catholic  direction,  and  not  be  a  < — A—" 

concession  to  ultra-Protestant  prejudices.  ParkerT 

To  avoid  any  discussion  in  Convocation  on  these  and  1559-75. 
similar  topics  was  assuredly  a  wise  and  politic  measure. 
There  was  also  connected  with  the  Latin  Prayer  Book 
another  subject  which  Parker  had  much  at  heart,  and  in 
carrying   which   he   might   have   anticipated    a    strong 

opposition.     In   the   Latin   Prayer   Book  the   Calendar  Restora- 

1  tion.  of  the 

re-appeared.  Catholic 

In  the  Calendar  in  1549,  the  only  days  appointed  for  Calendap* 
observance  were  what  are  described  as  Bed  Letter  daySj 
to  which  are  appointed  certain  collects,  epistles,  and 
gospels.  In  1552,  the  names  of  St.  George,  St.  Lawrence, 
and  St.  Clement  were  added  ;  and,  by  a  mistake,  probably, 
the  name  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene  was  omitted.  The  En- 
glish Calendar  of  1559  had  no  Black  Letter  days,  except 
the  festivals  of  St.  Lawrence  and  St.  George ;  but  in  the 
Latin  Prayer  Book  the  name  of  some  saint  is  attached  to 
almost  every  day. 

This  was  probably  intended  as  a  feeler*  and  the  arch- 
bishop prepared  to  introduce  a  reformed  Calendar  into  the 
English  Prayer  Book.  To  effect  his  purpose  three  courses 
were  open  to  him  :  he  might  bring  the  subject  before 
Convocation ;  he  might  make  the  order  by  his  own 
authority ;  or,  by  reference  to  a  statute  passed  in  the  last 
parliament,  he  might  call  upon  the  queen  to  appoint  a 
Commission.  By  not  consulting  Convocation,  he  avoided 
a  party  battle;  and  he  hoped,  by  uniting  the  metro- 
politan with  the  royal  authority,  to  silence  all  gainsayers. 
To  those  who  would  regard  the  royal  interference  as  an 
Erastian  movement,  he  could  present  his  mandate  as 
archbishop ;  and  if  there  were  any  who  cared  little  fot 
his  spiritual  authority,  he  could  urge  upon  them  the  royal 

VOL.    IX.  x 


306  LIVES    OF   TIIH 

CHAP,     injunction.     He  determined,  therefore,  to  ask  for  a  Com- 
- — il— -   mission,  at  the  head  of  which  he  took  his  place;  and 
ParkeyT   thus  he  established  a  precedent,  the  consequence  of  which 
1559-75.    was  most   pernicious.     The  crown   exercised  from  this 
time  extraordinary  power,  for  the  misuse  of  which  the 
hierarchy  had  to  bear  the  blame. 
Revision  The  apparent  object  of  the  Commission  was  to  establish 

Lection-      &  Lectionary,  for  which  a  demand  was  made  by  the  Pur;- 
ary*  tans ;  but  the  formation  of  a  Lectionary  was  certainly 

not  the  primary  intention  of  Parker  when  he  suggested 
the  Commission.  It  is  true,  that  some  changes  were  made 
in  the  selection  of  proper  lessons  for  Sundays  and  Holy- 
days,  yet  they  were  so  few,  and  of  such  little  significance, 
that  we  may  doubt  whether  any  one  would  have  com- 
plained, if  the  metropolitan  and  his  suffragans  had  taken 
it  upon  themselves  to  make  the  necessary  alterations. 
The  powers  of  the  Commission  were  more  extensive,  and 
it  was  for  the  exercise  of  those  extraordinary  powers  that 
it  was  called  into  existence. 
Eoyai  The   Commission   was   addressed   to   the   archbishop 

himself,  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  to  William  Bill,  the 
queen's  almoner,  and  Walter  Haddon,  one  of  the  Masters 
in  Chancery,  of  whom  notice  has  just  been  taken.  It 
was  thus  entirely  under  the  control  and  direction  of  the 
archbishop,  both  Bill  and  Haddon  agreeing  with  him  in 
all  the  great  principles  of  action ;  and  the  Bishop  of 
London,  who  could  scarcely  be  passed  by,  though  inclined 
to  the  Puritans,  and  regarded  as  their  representative  in 
the  Commission,  was  not  a  man  to  offer  unnecessary  oppo- 
sition to  the  primate. 

The  Commissioners  were  directed  to  make  such  changes 
in  the  Lectionary  as  they  might  think  conducive  to  the 
greater  edification  of  the  people. 

Eemarks  being  made  on  the  neglected  state  of  the 


Commis 
sion 


1 

s 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 


307 


CHAP. 
X. 


Matthew 
Parker. 


churches  and  chapels,  and  especially  of  the  chancels,  it 
was  observed  that  this  neglect  was  the  more  disgraceful 
when  compared  with  the  expensive  care  exhibited  by  all 
classes  of  the  community  upon  their  private  houses.  The  1559-75. 
queen,  in  consequence,  directed  the  Commissioners  to  take 
steps  for  counteracting  the  evil  complained  of.  Among 
other  things,  they  were  required  Ci  to  order  that  the  Tables 
of  the  Ten  Commandments  might  be  comely  set  up,  or  hung 
up  at  the  east  end  of  the  church,  to  be  not  only  read  for 
edification,  but  also  to  give  some  comely  ornament  and 
demonstration  that  the  same  is  a  place  of  religion  and 
prayer." 

In  this  injunction  we  find  perhaps  an  excuse  for  the 
Commission.  The  chancels  and  churches  were  chiefly 
those  which  had  been  formerly  repaired  at  the  expense 
of  the  monasteries  ;  when  the  monasteries  were  destroyed, 
and  the  property  passed  into  lay  hands,  the  parties  pur- 
chasing the  rights  of  the  former  possessors  succeeded  to 
their  responsibilities,  and  if  they  neglected  duties  while 
they  availed  themselves  of  the  advantages  of  their  position, 
they  were  justly  amenable  to  censure.  Of  these  offenders, 
it  was  to  be  feared  that  the  majority  would  not  have 
amended  their  ways  on  a  mere  remonstrance  from  the 
archbishop,  and  it  was  important,  therefore,  to  support 
the  remonstrance  by  a  royal  command.  Even  this,  how- 
ever, did  not  meet  the  evil  to  its  full  extent,  because, 
although  the  repairs  of  the  chancels  devolved  on  the  lay 
rector,  the  expense  of  keeping  the  church  in  order  was 
incurred  by  the  parishioners. 

The   archbishop   received   the  royal  mandate  on  the  pubiica- 
22nd  of  January,  and  on  the  15th  of  February  he  issued  J^wcl?9 
a  pastoral  address  to  his  suffragans,  through  the  Bishop  endar  and 
of  London.     While  the  prelates  were  engaged  in  carrying 
into  effect  the  directions  of  their  metropolitan,  the  arch- 

x2 


308  LIVES    OF    THE 

chap,     bishop  was  himself  employed  in  reforming  the  Calendar, 
- — r- — -  a  duty  in  his  mind  closely  connected  with  the  establish- 
Parker.     ment  of  a  Lectionary,  the  character  of  the  lessons  being 
1559-76.    dependent,  in  a  certain  measure,  upon  the  festival  or  fast- 
day,  for  which  the  perusal  of  them  was  appointed. 

The  main  object  of  Parker  and  of  the  queen  was  to 
exhibit  the  connection  of  the  existing  Church,  which  they 
were  reforming,  with  the  Catholic  Church  of  former  times, 
of  which  it  was  not  the  successor,  but  a  development. 
The  holy  men  of  old  were  to  be  revered  for  their  godli- 
ness, even  though  they  held  some  doctrines  which  were 
now  repudiated ;  and  performed  certain  acts  of  devotion 
which  the  present  Church  no  longer  observed.  Two  men 
may  not  be  on  speaking  terms  with  one  another  at  the 
present  time,  and  yet  they  may  be  members  of  the 
same  family.  In  the  United  States  of  America,  we  often 
find  a  man,  who  prefers  his  republican  to  our  monarchical 
institutions,  and  yet  claims  a  kind  of  family  share  in 
the  minds  and  homes  of  Englishmen  who  nourished 
before  the  separation  of  the  North  American  colonies 
from  the  mother  country.  In  these  remarks  we  find  an 
explanation  of  Parker's  feelings,  and  of  those  which  are 
still  predominant  in  the  Anglo-Catholic  mind.  In  the 
hagiography  of  the  Church  there  are  presented  to  us  ex- 
amples of  peculiar  excellence  achieved  under  the  most 
difficult  and  trying  circumstances,  and  the  study  of  the 
lives  of  such  heroes  would,  in  Parker's  judgment,  be  con- 
ducive to  the  spiritual  advancement  of  men  who  are 
influenced  by  example  more  than  by  precept. 

To  a  revival  of  the  Calendar,  opposition  was  sometimes 
offered  by  the  statesman  as  well  as  by  the  Puritan,  and, 
to  a  certain  point,  with  justice.  As  the  world  became 
busy,  and  enterprise  was  encouraged  among  the  com- 
mercial men  of  England,  the   observance  of  the  many 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  309 

holydays  which  existed  before  the  Eeformation  was  felt 
to  be  a  grievance — it  encouraged  idleness,  and  promoted 
in  many  instances  that  licentiousness  which  is  of  idleness 
the  invariable  consequence.  The  evil  might  be  corrected 
by  correcting  the  abuse,  which  consisted  in  the  useless 
multiplying  of  those  days.  That  the  Church  was  right 
in  demanding  leisure  for  the  working  population  is  proved 
by  what  we  witness  in  these  days,  when  for  worldly 
enjoyment  the  working  classes  are  insisting  upon  the 
concession,  on  the  part  of  their  employers,  of  more  days 
for  recreation  and  fewer  hours  for  actual  labour. 

Parker  admitted  the  grievance,  and  was  quite  ready  to 
diminish  the  number  of  idle  days  by  only  requiring  the 
absolute  observance  of  the  Eed  Letter  days.  But  for  those 
who  possessed  the  leisure,  he  provided  study  and  employ- 
ment by  retaining  some,  at  least,  of  the  Black  Letter  days.* 

That  he  failed  in  sustaining  an  observance  of  these 
days  among  the  great  body  of  the  Church  may  be  regretted, 
but  cannot  be  denied.  For  a  long  period  they  were 
observed  in  all  the  public  courts  and  proceedings  of  the 
nation  ;  and,  at  all  events,  it  was  a  fair  experiment  to  be 
made  ;  one  of  the  experiments  designed  to  resist  the 
sectarian  tendency  of  the  Puritans,  who  thought  that  no 
man  was  religious  before  the  coming  of  Calvin,  and  who 
anathematized  all  except  those  in  whom  latent  Calvinism 
might  at  least  be  detected  or  supposed. 

From  the  earliest  period  of  the  Church's  history,  Calen- 
dars have  existed  ;   they  may  be  dated  from  the  martyr- 

*  In  pity  for  the  laborious,  the  primitive  Church  established  holi- 
days ;  by  the  multiplication  of  which  the  medieval  Church  erred  ;  by  an 
almost  entire  renunciation  of  them  the  error  of  Protestantism  has  been 
still  greater.  It  is  a  circumstance  worthy  of  notice,  that  Plato  regarded 
the  appointment  of  holidays  as  divine:  deal  <je  olicrelpuvTtq  to  ru)r 
avQpioiriov  k-Ki-Kovov  irztyvKoq  yirog  dvairavXai,  re  ah;  oIq  tGjv  tt6)  wv 
iriiL,avTO  rag  ruif  eoprwv  a'/jot/3ct£  roig  dsolg. — Leg.  ii.  1. 


310  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,  dom  of  St.  Polycarp  in  the  year  168.  We  have  them  in 
the  Diptychs  of  the  primitive  Church.  When  the  Dip- 
tychs  developed  into  the  modem  Calendar,  we  perceive 
the  Calendar  to  consist  of  a  table  in  which  are  stated 
days,  and  weeks,  and  months,  with  the  fasts  and  festivals 
of  the  Church. 

The  Jesuit  Boucher,  in  his  commentary  on  the  Paschal 
Calendars.  Cycle,  gives  a  Calendar  which  bears  the  date  of  a.d.  336- 
This  is,  I  believe,  the  earliest  Calendar  that  has  been 
printed.*  Another  Calendar  of  the  Church  of  Carthage, 
bearing  date  a.d.  483,  is  to  be  found  in  Mabillon's 
"Analecta."  In  our  own  Church  the  Calendar  was 
largely  illustrated  by  the  Venerable  Bede,  in  the  eighth 
century.  To  this  Calendar  the  names  of  saints  were 
added  from  time  to  time,  at  the  option,  it  would  appear, 
at  first,  of  the  several  diocesans,  until  the  pope  reserved 
to  himself  the  right  of  canonization.  To  the  latter 
circumstance  we  may  attribute  the  fact,  that  for  two 
hundred  years  before  the  accession  of  Henry  VIII. 
the  English  Calendar  had  remained  stationary.  In  the 
year  1536,  that  king  issued  his  injunctions  to  restrict 
the  number  of  holydays,  a  complaint  having  been  made 
that  they  had  become  so  numerous  as  to  encourage 
idleness  and  interfere  with  business.  It  is  said  in  the 
proclamation,  that  scarcely  sufficient  men  were  left  of  the 
agricultural  population  to  gather  in  the  harvest ;  though 
the  real  complainants  were  the  merchants  and  men 
of  commerce.  The  injunction  was  issued  in  the  king's 
name,  with  the  assent  and  consent  of  the  prelates  and 
clergy  assembled  in  Convocation.  The  alterations  were 
of  a  practical  nature,  and  as  few  as  was  consistent  with 
the  purposes  of  the  injunction.  The  feasts  which  fell  at 
the  harvest  time  or  in  term  time,  were  discharged,  so  that 

*  Boucher's  Commentary  was  published  at  Antwerp,  a.i>.  1634. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  311 

every  man  was  at  liberty,  at  his  own  discretion,  to  work 
or  refrain  from  working.     To  the  state  of  things  as  they 
existed  in  King  Henry's  reign,  Parker  and  the   queen     parked 
desired  to  restore  the  Calendar.  1559-75. 

In  considering  the  names  of  saints  to  be  retained  in  the 
Calendar,  and  whom  to  omit,  Archbishop  Parker  did  not 
possess  the  assistance  from  books  which  a  modern  scholar 
can  command.  The  "  Acta  Sanctorum"  were  not  as  yet  in 
existence,  and  there  was  no  Bollandist  to  consult.  Be- 
tween the  death  of  Parker  and  the  birth  of  John  von 
Bolland,  more  than  twenty  years  were  to  elapse.  Even 
the  very  learned  precursor  of  his  yet  more  learned  labours, 
Herbert  Eosweyd,  was  only  two  years  old  when  Arch- 
bishop Parker  breathed  his  last.  Parker  had  before  him, 
it  is  true,  the  hagiologies  of  Surius  and  Lippomanni,  but 
so  full  of  errors  were  these  volumes,  that  a  portion  of  the 
labours  of  the  lenient  Bollandists  consisted  in  the  correc- 
tion of  their  fables.* 

The  conjecture  that  the  adoption  of  a  corrected  Calen- 
dar was  the  first  object  with  the  archbishop  and  the 
queen,  and  that  in  establishing  it  they  did  not  think  it 
expedient  to  provoke  opposition  more  than  was  necessary, 
is  confirmed  by  the  injunction  given  to  the  Commissioners, 

*  It  is  said  of  Bollandus,  that  he  laboured  on  the  Acta  Sanctorum 
for  thirty-four  years ;  and  to  the  same  work  fifty-five  years  were 
devoted  by  Daniel  Papebrock.  The  work,  which  is  not  yet  completed, 
must  be  regarded  among  the  wonders  of  literature.  It  is  of  course  of 
unequal  merit.  We  have  occasionally  to  pass  from  an  instructor,  at 
whose  feet  the  highest  intellect  would  be  proud  to  sit,  to  marvel  at  the 
absurdities  of  a  writer  inferior  as  a  critic  and  offensive  in  his  credulous 
superstition.  The  names  of  the  distinguished  men  who  began  the  work 
are  to  be  found  in  the  following  lines — 

Quod  Rosweydus  prepararat, 

Quod  Bollandus  inchoarat, 

Quod  Henscheinus  formarat, 

Periecit  Papebrochius. 


312  lives  of  thi: 

chap,  to  proceed  with  as  little  noise  as  possible.  The 
■ — r — •  missioners  did  not  venture  to  insert  in  the  English  Prayer 
Parked  Book  all  the  names  that  appeared  in  the  Latin  version. 
1559-75.  The  moderation  of  the  English  reformers  was  shown 
in  this  transaction.  No  one  was  compelled  to  observe 
the  Black  Letter  days ;  although  for  those  who  find 
pleasure  in  celebrating  the  triumphs  of  grace  over  fallen 
human  nature,  the  Calendar  was  convenient  as  a  table  of 
reference ;  and  if  they  were  accused  of  superstition  for 
doing  in  the  church  what  many  do  in  private  families, 
when  they  have  days  set  apart  to  commemorate  great 
blessings,  or  to  humble  themselves  for  deep  domestic 
sorrow,  the  archbishop  might  quote  the  authority  of 
Scripture :  "  One  esteemeth  one  day  above  another, 
.another  esteemeth  every  day  alike.  Let  every  man  be 
fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind." 
Lay  help.  While  thus  acting  on  his  own  authority,  assisted  by 
the  powers  of  the  crown,  in  matters  that  he  did  not  think 
it  expedient  to  bring  before  Convocation,  the  archbishop 
was,  at  the  same  time,  preparing  subjects  for  the  discussion 
of  the  synod.  It  will  be  remembered  that,  in  order  to  meet 
the  exigencies  of  the  Church,  when  candidates  for  orders 
were  few,  or  when  those  who  aspired  to  the  clerical 
offices  proved  upon  examination  to  be  incompetent  to 
discharge  the  duties  pertaining  thereto,  the  archbishop 
had  instituted  an  order  of  lectors,  readers,  or  lay  helpers.* 
Their  duties  were  clearly  defined ;  and  while  they  were 
excluded,  of  course,  from  the  discharge  of  sacerdotal 
functions,  or  the  ministration  of  the  Sacraments,  while 
they  were  not  even  permitted  to  preach,  they  were  re- 
quired to  read  certain  Homilies  to  the  people,  and  com- 
plaint was  made  that  the  Homilies  were  so  few  that 

*   Strype,  Annals,  I.  i.  315. 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  3L3 

repetition  of  them,  in  many  cases,   became  wearisome,     chap. 
To   provide   fresh    Homilies   would   thus    become    the  • — ^ — - 
business  of  the  next  Convocation.  Parker. 

Twelve  Homilies  had  been  published  by  authority  in  1559-75. 
1547,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  five  years  of  Queen  Homilies. 
Mary's  reign,  had  been  very  generally  used,  not  only  by 
the  lay  helpers,  but  also  by  the  non-preaching  clergy. 
They  were  composed  upon  a  principle,  which,  from 
the  time  when  he  first  began  to  give  his  mind-  to 
theological  studies,  had  commended  itself  to  the  judg- 
ment of  Archbishop  Parker.  In  the  Homilies  the 
old  Catholic  doctrines  were  maintained,  and  they  are 
stated  with  a  fullness  which  surprised  those  who,  a  few 
years  since,  found  them  circulated  and  quoted  as  authori- 
tative by  the  Puritans  of  the  present  age.  They  must 
have  been  circulated  by  many  who  had  not  taken  the 
trouble  to  peruse  them,  but  were  carried  away  by  a  re- 
ference to  a  few  passages  which  savour  of  Protestantism. 
For  instance,  in  the  Homilies  we  find  maintained  the 
great  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  only  ;  a  doctrine 
which,  true  in  one  sense,  is  not  inconsistent  with  the 
doctrine  of  justification  by  works,  which  is  true  in  another 
sense.  The  object  of  those  who  hold  the  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith  is  to  induce  men  to  rely  for  salvation 
from  first  to  last  on  the  merits  of  the  Saviour ;  and  on 
this  account  it  was  received  by  Cardinal  Pole,  and  by 
some  others  as  resolute  as  he  was  in  maintaining  the 
papal  hierarchy,  until  they  were  deprived  of  their  liberty 
of  thought  in  that  direction  by  the  Council  of  Trent. 
The  leading  members  of  that  synod  discovered  what  had 
previously  been  maintained  by  Luther,  viz.,  that,  where  the 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  is  held,  there  no  place 
can  be  found  for  works  of  supererogation,  with  the  re- 
nunciation of  which  tenet  almost  all  that  is  objectionable 
in  Neo-Bomanism  falls  to  the  ground. 


314  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap.         The  writers  of  the  Homilies  held  the  doctrine  of  justfc 

> — -^ — .  fication  by  faith  only,  but  they  also  held,  as  consisted 

Parker,     with  this  dogma,  a  belief  in  the  authoritative  teaching 

1559-75.    and  sacred  tradition  of  the  primitive  Church,  regarded  nol 

tothe n°e    as  co-ordinate  in  authority  with  the  holy  Scripture,  but 

Pal  hers  by  explanatory  of  the  same.     In  the  Homilies  we  find  en- 

the  writers  x  J 

of  the  #  forced  a  deference  to  the  first  four  general  councils 
and  the  sacramental  character  of  several  ordinance* 
of  the  Church,  besides  baptism  and  the  Holy  Eucharist. 
The  actual  title  of  a  Sacrament,  for  example,  is  given  to 
Matrimony,  but  then,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  this  was 
done  by  persons  who  made  a  broad  distinction  between 
all  other  means  of  grace,  and  the  two  distinguishing  or- 
dinances of  the  Catholic  Church — Baptism,  and  the  Supper 
of  the  Lord.  The  two  ordinances  last  named  are  not  only 
means  of  grace ;  they  are  means  of  the  special  grace  of 
uniting  the  souls  of  the  faithful  to  the  Eedeemer.*  The 
Homilies  teach  regeneration  in  holy  baptism,  the  Eeal 
Presence  in  the  Eucharist,  and  the  inspiration  of  the 
Apocrypha,  though  in  a  sense,  of  course,  different 
from  that  in  which  the  term  inspiration  is  applied 
to  the  canonical  Scriptures.  This  was  all  in  accord- 
ance with  the  views  of  Archbishop  Parker,  whose 
principles  were  embodied  in  the  decree  De  Concio- 
natoribus,  passed  in  the  Convocation  of  1571.  This 
canon  contains  rules  for  the  guidance  of  all  preachers  of 
the  Church  of  England.     The  words  are  as  follows : — 

*  The  Reformers  refused  generally  the  title  of  Sacraments  to  many 
important  ordinances,  because  they  were  jealous  of  the  dignity  of 
Baptism  and  the  Supper  of  the  Lord  :  a  modern  Puritan  would  denounce, 
in  words  of  flame,  any  one  who  should  speak  of  seven  Sacraments; 
but  one  can  scarcely  guess  why.  They  do  not  regard  Baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper  as  special  means  of  grace,  or  means  of  grace  at  all. 
The  dispute  about  the  number  of  the  Sacraments  is  mere  logomachy, 
and  therefore  a  sin. 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF    CANTERBURY.  315 

In  the  first  place,  they  [the  preachers]  shall  see  that     chap. 

Ley  never  teach  anything  for  a  discourse  which  they  -_ — r — • 
wish  to  be  religiously  held  and  believed  by  the  people,  parked 
but  what  is  agreeable  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Old  and  1559-75. 
New   Testament,    and   what   the   Catholic    fathers    and 

Indent  bishops  have  collected  out  of  that  same  doctrine." 
t  has  been  suggested,  that  if  there  be  one  feature 
iroughout  the  whole  of  the  Homilies  more  remarkable 
ban  another,  it  is  the  exhibition  of  a  principle  of  defer- 
nce  to  the  ancient  Church.  In  a  moderate-sized  volume, 
the  archbishop  found  the  names  of  Anselm,  Athanasius, 
Arnobius,  Augustine,  Basil,  Bede,  Bernard,  Chrysostom, 
Clemens,  Cyprian,  Cyril,  Epiphanius,  Eusebius,  Fulgentius, 
Gregory,  Hilary,  Ignatius,  Ireneeus,  Jerome,  Isidore, 
Justin,  Lactantius,  Origen,  Optatus,Theophylact,Tertullian, 
and  others  whom  I  have  passed  over  for  want  of  space. 
That  the  writers  must  have  been  well  versed  in  patristic 
learning  we  shall  be  the  more  easily  persuaded,  when  we 
add,  that  these  were  not  mere  partial  allusions  to  the  old  ' 
writers,  but  sometimes  they  were  citations  from  their 
works.  There  are  enumerated,  indeed,  not  fewer  than  forty 
citations  from  the  works  of  St.  Augustine  ;  and  the  fathers 
thus  quoted  are  spoken  of  in  terms  of  profound  respect ; 
such  as,  "  The  great  clerk  and  godly  preacher ;  "  "  the 
learned  and  godly  doctors ; "  "  the  holy  fathers  and 
doctors  ; "  "  you  see  that  the  authority  both  of  Scripture 
and  also  of  Augustine  ;  "  "  it  is  already  proved  both  by 
the  authority  of  Scripture  and  by  the  authority  of 
Augustine ; "  "  ye  have  heard  how  earnestly  both  the 
apostles,  prophets,  holy  fathers,  and  doctors  do  exhort 
us  ;  "  "  but  before  all  things,"  it  is  said  in  one  place  where 
there  is  reference  to  the  Eucharist,  "  this  we  must  be  sure 
of  especially,  that  this  supper  be  in  such  wise  done  and 
ministered  as  our  Lord  and  Saviour  did  and  commanded 


316  lives  of  Tin: 

chap,     to  be  done,   as  his  apostles  used  it,  and  the  good  fathers 
^V— -   of  the  primitive  Church  frequented  it." 
Parker.         Parker  desired  to  be  regarded  as  both  Protestant  and 
1559-75.    Catholic,  for  he  regarded  the  title  of  Protestant  as  being 
opposed,  not  to  Catholicism,  but  to  Eomanism.     Opp< 
to  papists  such  as  Bonner,  Sanders,  and  Allen,  he  took 
his  place  among  the  Anglo-Catholics,  and  with  them  he 
endeavoured  to  conciliate  the  reformers  on  either  side, 
and  to  form  a  great  Protestant  school.     He  was  glad  to 
bring  into  combined  action,  the  "  new  learning  "  and  "  the 
old ; "  and  he  was  well  pleased  in  the  Homily  of  Matri- 
mony to  point  to  half  of  it  as  the  work  of  St.  Chry- 
sostom,  and  to  the  other  half  as  that  of  Veit  Dietrich 
of  Nuremburg.     He   was   always  very  careful   also  to 
avoid  any  approach  to  the  sectarian  system,  or  to  attach 
importance  to  the  ipse  dixit  of  the  theological  hero  of  the 
day  whoever  he   might  be.     He   desired   to  have  the 
Homilies  regarded  simply  as  lessons  for  the  accuracy  of 
which  individuals  were  responsible ;  while  by  himself  and 
his  synod  they  were  pronounced  to  be,  on   the  whole, 
satisfactory  productions  peculiarly  suited  to  the  exigency 
of  the  times.    In  studying  them  we  are  never  to  forget  that 
the  Homilies  now  published  were  designed,  not  to  make 
known  what  Luther  opined  or  Calvin  asserted,  but  simply 
to  inform  the  people  what  the  Church  has  received  from 
our  ancestors,  and  would  hand  on  to  posterity. 

The  Homilies  were  accepted  by  Convocation ;  and  the 
archbishop,  as  it  may  be  seen  in  his  correspondence,  was 
particularly  anxious  for  their  immediate  circulation.  For 
that  very  reason,  perhaps,  he  found  an  unaccountable 
obstacle  at  court.  The  queen,  in  spite  of  the  urgency  of 
the  primate  and  of  Cecil,  delayed  her  sanction  of  the 
publication,  instigated  by  Eobert  Dudley,  afterwards  Earl 
of    Leicester,    the    bitter    enemy    of    the    archbishop. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  317 

ithough  one  of  the  basest  of  mankind,  Leicester  was  the 
lider  and  abettor  of  the  Puritans,  being  united  to  them 
>y  a  common  object  of  hatred — the  Church  :  they,  under     p^ker.  : 

Le  influence  of  pious  though  mistaken  principles  ;  he,  be-    1559-75. 

mse  he  hoped,  through  their  means,  to  obtain  a  further 

Lare  of  the  plundered  Establishment.* 
We   may   here  mention  another  important    work   to  New 

J  version  of 

which  the  archbishop  began  now  to  turn  his  mind,  Scripture 
although  he  did  not  complete  his  undertaking  for  several  projec 
years  afterwards.  The  grand  idea  of  an  authorized  ver- 
sion of  Scripture  began  to  dawn  in  his  mind,  and  at  last 
he  came  to  the  conclusion  that,  if  the  teaching  of  the 
Church  was  to  become  what  it  professed  to  be — scrip- 
tural, such  a  version  would  be  absolutely  necessary.  His 
principle  was  to  state  what  the  Church  had  received ; 
to  place  the  Bible  in  the  hands  of  the  children  of  the 
Church  ;  and  then  to  call  upon  them,  if  doubts  were 
raised  against  the  Church's  teaching  by  Puritans,  Ana- 
baptists, or  others,  to  search  the  Scriptures,  like  the 
good  Bereans  of  old,  to  see  whether  these  things  were  so. 

Of  the  several  versions  of  Scripture  which  had  sue-  ^.eva 

r  Bible. 

ceeded  each  other,  through  the  zeal  of  party,  commercial 
speculation,  or  the  piety  of  individuals,  since  the  middle 
of  King  Henry's  reign,  we  have  had  occasion  already 
to  speak.  They  were  all  of  them  meritorious  ;  and,  con- 
sidering the  disadvantageous  circumstances  under  which 
the  translations  had  been  made,  they  are  very  remarkable 
works.  But  their  defects  were  also  great,  and  these 
defects  became  the  more  apparent  as  men  advanced  in 
the  critical  study  of  the  original  Scriptures. 

In  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.,  "  the  Great  Bible  "  was,  mi    „ 

0  7    The  Great 

Bible. 
*  When  this  remark  is  made,  we  must  acquit  the  Puritans  of  blame,    1539-40. 
and  remember  that  when  he  died,  Leicester  was  probably  not  regarded 
as  more  profligate  than  others  in  the  Court. 


318  LIVES   OF   T1IH 

(ii  \ p.     to  all  intents  and  purposes,  the  authorized  version,  for 
^ .   was  ordered  that  with  this  Bible  every  church  should 

Parker,      supplied. 

1559-75.        Although  opinions  are   divided  on  the  merits  of  t 

translation,  the  majority,  perhaps,  of  impartial  critics, 
competent  to  form  a  judgment  on  the  subject,  will 
admit  that  it  was  an  improvement  upon  its  prcdeo 
sors.  It  was  published  in  1539,  and  although  it  is 
quently  called  "  Cranmer's  Bible,"  there  is  no  eviden 
to  show  that  Cranmer  had  any  share  in  its  preparatio 
and  his  vacillating  mind  was  not  always  consulted  by  t 
unscrupulous  minister  of  Henry  VIII.* 

It  was  a  speculation  of  Crumwell's,  and  would  pr< 
bably  have  been  called  "  Crumwell's  Bible,"  if  that  mi 
ister's  death  had  not  followed  almost  immediately  upo 
its  publication;  when,  to  mention  his  name  was  almos 
tantamount,  in  the  royal  ear,  to  the  utterance  of  treaso 
Cranmer,  however,  made  it  his  own,  in  one  sense,  b 
prefixing  some  prologues,  or,  as  we  should  call  them 
prefaces  to  it,  and  causing  a  re-issue  to  take  place  in  1540 
Although  we  are  not  among  those  who  would  ui 
duly  depreciate  this  meritorious  work,  yet  it  cannot  t 
denied,  that  it  had  many  and  great  defects.  Among  i 
faults  may  be  reckoned  too  great  a  deference  to  th 
Vulgate,  from  which,  rather  than  from  the  original  Scri 
tures,  the  version  was  made.  It  may  have  appeared 
the  writers  that  more  authority  attached  to  a  versio 
which  had  been  accepted  by  all  the  European  Churche 
than  could  be  claimed  for  any  translation  for  which  on] 
two  or  three  learned  men  were  responsible ;  but  it  ws 
forgotten,  that  of  the  Vulgate  itself  no  critical  edition  ha 
as   yet   been   published  ;   that  it  had  not  been   revised, 

*  Westcott,  p.  100.     It  was  called  "  The  Great  Bible  "  from  its 
large  folio. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  319 

and  that  undetected  errors  had  been  for  ages  creeping     chap. 
into  it — a  fact  tacitly  admitted  by  the  Council  of  Trent. ,- — - 

When,  on  the  accession  of  Mary,  some  of  the  most  parked 
learned  of  our  divines,  in  distrust  of  their  courage  to  .1559-75. 
endure  the  fiery  trial  prepared  for  them,  fled  the  country, 
some  there  were,  especially  after  the  troubles  at  Frank- 
fort, who  made  Geneva  their  home.  Being  possessed  of 
leisure  for  study,  they  determined  to  devote  their  time  to 
a  new  and  more  complete  translation  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures  into  the  English  language. 

Their  residence  in  Geneva  was  advantageous  to  them, 
as  it  introduced  them  to  some  of  the  most  erudite  scholars 
of  the  age ;  but  the  advantage  was  counterbalanced  by 
their  being  brought  into  subjection  to  the  master  mind  of 
John  Calvin  ;  and  by  their  embracing,  through  him,  the 
most  narrow  and  sectarian  system  of  theology  that  has 
ever  involved  the  world  in  the  most  bitter  controversies 
and  the  most  angry  disputes. 

The  refugees  at  Geneva  and  Zurich  possessed  in 
Calvin  and  Beza  assistants  whose  scholarship  was,  in 
that  age,  unsurpassed,  and  whose  minds  were  occupied 
in  similar  pursuits ;  for  a  critical  revision  of  the  French 
and  Italian  versions  was  now  engaging  their  attention. 
Our  countrymen  became  also  acquainted  with  Eobert 
Stephens,  the  celebrated  printer,  to  whom,  more  than  to 
any  other  contemporary,  the  biblical  student  was  indebted. 

They  were  brought  into  intimacy  with  John  Calvin 
through  William  Whittingham,  who  had  married  his 
sister.  The  brother-in-law  of  Calvin,  though  narrow- 
minded  and  bigoted,  was  nevertheless  a  man  of  mark. 
Of  a  good  family,  he  had  been  educated  at  Oxford,  and 
had  visited,  for  the  purposes  of  study,  several  of  the  con- 
tinental universities.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  new 
version  of  the  Scriptures,  and  when  Whittingham's  New 


390  LIVES   OF   THE 

CHAP.     Testament  appeared   in    1 557,  it  was  received  not  onl 

* — -  with  the  applause  of  Puritans  animated  by  party  spirit, 

PtokerT  ^)llt  with  the  grateful  approbation  of  others,  to  whom  a 
1559-75.  scholarly  translation  in  a  portable  volume  was  of  unspeak- 
able value.  The  New  Testament  was  followed  by  a 
version  of  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament ;  which, 
however,  did  not  make  its  appearance  until  the  year  1560. 
The  New  Testament,  translated  by  Whittingham,  formed 
part  of  the  Geneva  Bible;  and  the  better  part,  since  it 
is  evident,  that  the  same  amount  of  industry  was  not 
bestowed  upon  the  Old  Testament  as  had  rendered  the 
translation  of  the  New  Testament  so  superior  as  to  elicit 
the  praise  of  all  parties  competent  to  form  a  judgment  on 
the  subject. 

The  intrinsic  merits  of  the  edition  now  published  were 
great.  It  was  printed  as  a  small  quarto  volume ;  in 
Eoman  type,  not,  as  the  other  editions,  in  black-letter  ; 
and  it  was  divided,  not  only  into  chapters,  but  also  into 
verses.  Preceding  versions  bad  been  printed  much  after  the 
manner  of  our  modern  paragraph  Bibles.  Frequent  maps 
and  tables  were  added,  and  whatever  could  assist  or 
interest  the  ordinary  reader.* 

I  have  given  an  account  of  this  Bible,  because  its  merits 

*  Our  chapter  divisions  date  from  the  12th  century.  The  division 
by  verses  was  introduced  in  a  margin  of  the  Greek  Testament  by  the 
learned  printer  Stephens,  in  the  year  1551.  Our  great  authority  for 
our  English  versions  of  Scripture,  and  indeed  for  all  that  pertains  to 
the  publication  of  the  sacred  volume,  is  Canon  Westcott.  He  refers  to 
and  corrects  Anderson,  whose  learned  work  is  ill  arranged  ;  and  he  gives 
just  praise  to  the  interesting  historical  account  prefixed  to  Bagster's 
Hexapla,  which,  though  requiring  revision,  is  unduly  depreciated  by 
Anderson.  Canon  Westcott  raises  an  indignant  protest  against  such 
party  writers  as  Mr.  Hallam  and  his  followers,  whom  he  accuses  of 
"  misrepresenting  every  significant  feature  in  an  important  episode  of 
literary  history."  See  also  Cotton's  List  of  Bibles ;  Lewis's  History 
of  Translations,  pp.  257-308  ;  Neal's  Puritans,  i.  110  ;   Collier,  vi.  41  i. 


ARCHBISHOPS    OF   CANTERBURY.  o21 

were  so  conspicuous  and  its  faults  so  occult  that,  when     chap. 
first  it  appeared,  it  received  the  sanction  of  the  arch-  * — '<- — » 
bishop  for  its  circulation,  and  the  patronage  of  the  queen,     parked 
It  was  published  by  subscription,  but  the  greater  part  of    * 559-75. 
the  expense  was  incurred  by  John  Bodley,  the  father  .of 
that  distinguished  man,  by  whom,  as  the  founder  of  the 
Bodleian  Library,  the  name  is  immortalized. 

Bodley  advanced  his  money  chiefly  as  a  commercial 
speculation,  or  certainly  as  a  good  speculation  he  turned 
it  to  account  on  the  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  In 
1560,  he  obtained  a  special  licence  for  the  sole  printing 
of  the  Geneva  Bible,  and  the  monopoly  was  to  continue 
for  seven  years,  dating  from  the  8th  of  January,  1560. 
In  the  year  1565,  he  obtained  a  renewal  of  the  mo- 
nopoly, against  the  opinion  of  the  queen  and  Cecil,  but 
at  the  solicitation  of  Parker,  who  united  with  the  Bishop 
of  London  in  recommending  the  licence  for  which  Bodley 
petitioned. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  Parker's  object  in  thus 
uniting  with  the  Puritan  party,  unless  it  was  to  court 
popularity  and  to  disarm  hostility  against  a  Church 
version  which  he  was  already  projecting,  and  in  which 
he  had  made  some  advance.  That  version  would  not 
have  been  undertaken  if  Parker  had  been  satisfied 
with  the  Genevan  version ;  but  it  is  evident,  that  when  he 
subjected  that  work  to  a  critical  examination,  he  found 
more  cause  to  be  discontented  with  it.  It  is  sometimes 
said,  that  the  Calvinism  in  the  notes  to  the  Geneva  Bible 
is  mild ;  but  this  must  be  said  by  those  who  have  never 
examined  the  book.  Neal,  a  friendly  critic  and  historian, 
informs  us,  that  a  dedication  and  epistle  to  the  reader,  which 
appeared  in  the  first  edition,  were  afterwards  omitted. 
Parker  was  often  culpably  easy  in  extending  his  patronage 
to  literary  works  without  examining  them,  and  this  may 

vok  ix,  y 


322  lives  of  tin: 

ciiap.     account  for  the  appearance  of  the  dedication  and  epist] 
. — V — •  iu  the  iirst  edition,  while  the  omission  of  these  prefaces  in 
Park*,     subsequent  editions  is  their  condemnation.     Neal  honestly 
i559-7/>.    admits,  that  they  were  withdrawn  "because  they  touched 
somewhat  severely  upon  certain  ceremonies  retained  in 
the  Church  of  England,  which  they  excited  her  majesty 
to  remove,  as  having  a  popish  aspect;  and  because  the 
translators  had  published  notes  which  were  thought  to 
affect  the  queen's  prerogative."     In  the  note  on  Revela- 
tion ix.  3 — that  we  may  show  the  animus  of  the  men 
— we  remark  that :  "  The  locusts  that  come  out  of  the 
smoke  are  said  to  be  like  subtle  prelates,  with  monks, 
friars,  cardinals,  patriarchs,  archbishops,  bishops,"  &c* 

The  queen  and  Cecil  may  have  continued  the  mono- 
poly of  John  Bodley  ;  but  this  fact  is  doubtful,  while  it  is 
certain,  that  during  the  period  of  Parker's  episcopate  the 
sale  of  the  Geneva  Bible  decreased,  reviving  immediately 
on  Grindal's  translation  from  the  see  of  York  to  be  his 
successor. 
Bishops'  We  need  not  pursue  this  subject  further.     What  was 

1563-68.  the  opinion  of  Parker  and  of  the  English  reformers  on 
the  character  of  the  Geneva  Bible,  and  the  mischievous 
tendency  of  its  notes,  is  sufficiently  proved  by  the  zeal  with 
which  the  archbishop  engaged  upon  a  translation,  designed 
to  be  an  authorized  version  to  be  used  in  every  church. 

•  See  Anderson's  Annals,  ii.  524.  Strype,  i.  413.  Neal,  i.  110. 
Neal  explicitly  asserts  that  the  petition  for  a  removal  of  the  monopoly 
in  1563  was  refused,  and  the  impression  stopped  till  after  the  death  of 
Archbishop  Parker.  Cardwell,  in  his  Documentary  Annals,  ii.  31, 
adds,  that  King  James  perused  the  Geneva  Bible,  and  pronounced  it 
to  be  "  very  partial,  untrue,  seditious,  and  savouring  too  much  of 
dangerous  and  traitorous  conceits."  See  also  Cotton's  List  of  Bible*, 
Lewis's  Hist,  of  Translations,  p.  257.  Strype's  Whitgift,  ii.  28. 
Barton's  Conference,  p.  43.  Newcome's  Hist,  of  Translations,  p. 
Todd's  Vindic.  App.  No.  3.     Wood's  Ann.  ii.  313, 


ARCHBISHOPS  OF  CANTERBURY.  323 

His  Bible  was  to  embody  the  improvements  of  the  Genevan     chap. 
translation,  to  represent  the  advanced  state  of  biblical 


literature,  and  to  avoid  that  spirit  of  party  which  he  re-     v&Aw. 
fused  at  all  times  to  patronize.  1559-75. 

In  referring  to  this  subject  I  have  rather  anticipated  the 
history  of  events,  because  it  appears  to  be  convenient  to 
place  the  whole  subject  before  the  reader  from  one  point 
of  view.  We  do,  indeed,  only  remark  very  slightly,  if  at  all, 
upon  the  fourteen  translators  ;  for,  although  the  Bishops' 
Bible  was  not  commenced  before  the  year  1563,  while 
more  than  four  years  were  required  for  its  completion, 
Parker  was  employed  during  the  preceding  years  in  col- 
lecting materials  for  the  work,  and  making  his  selection 
of  men. 

It  is  indeed  creditable  to  the  government,  and  to 
Parker  as  its  ecclesiastical  adviser,  that  in  looking  out 
for  learned  men  to  co-operate  with  him  in  this  important 
undertaking,  his  selection  of  coadjutors  was  made  largely 
from  the  episcopal  bench.  The  fact  of  their  being 
chosen  when  scholarship  was  the  sole  or  the  prominent 
qualification,  is  a  proof  that  the  ecclesiastical  appointments 
were  made,  not  at  the  solicitation  of  private  interest — 
though  this  was  sometimes  the  case — but  from  a  regard 
to  the  learning  and  piety  of  the  persons  preferred.  This 
conduct  is  the  more  praiseworthy,  when  we  observe 
that,  if  the  ecclesiastics  chosen  were  not  active  in  their 
opposition  to  the  measures  of  the  queen  and  the  primate, 
there  were  many  among  them  who  gave  but  a  cold  sup- 
port to  their  superiors,  and  who  did  not  hesitate  to  make 
it  known,  that  while  they  obeyed,  there  were  many  points 
on  which  they  could  have  wished  that  obedience  should 
not  be  required. 

The  archbishop  assigned  certain  sections  or  u  parcels  "  Parker's 
of  the  sacred  volume  to  be  perused  by  certain  scholars  Jj! 


y2 


selection 
trans- 
lators. 


i:>r>9  7">. 


124  LIVES  OF   tiii: 

chap,     selected  by  himself :  they  were  to  collate  the  various  trans- 
— r- — -  lations  already  made,  to  correct  them,  and  where  need 

"park^r  might  be,  to  supersede  them  by  a  new  translation.  He 
endeavoured  to  engage  Cecil  in  the  work,  and  though  he 
did  not  succeed,  the  fact  of  this  proposal  proves  two  things, 
— that  Cecil  retained,  amidst  the  turmoils  of  office,  fhe 
scholarship  for  which  lie  had  been  distinguished  at  Cam- 
bridge ;  and  that  Parker  did  not  reject,  but  rather  sought, 
without  being  able  to  obtain,  the  assistance  of  laymen. 
The  archbishop  was  to  act  as  editor  of  the  whole  volume, 
each  translator  submitting  his  labours  to  the  supervisioi 
and  correction  of  the  primate.  Parker  acted  on  a  prin- 
ciple which  he  adopted  on  other  occasions  :  although  he 
caused  the  initials  or  other  private  mark  to  be  affixed  to 
the  work  of  each  of  the  translators,  he  did  not  permit  it  to 
be  generally  known  who  the  translators  were  ;  his  desire 
being,  that  the  translation  should  be  regarded  as  the  work 
of  the  Church,  not  as  that  of  a  few  learned  men,  acting 
independently  and  without  rule.  The  editorial  duties 
being  assumed  by  the  primate,  and  synodal  sanction  being 
obtained  for  the  volume  when  completed,  he  was  justi- 
fied in  thus  crediting  the  work  to  the  Church  ;  and  what 
the  Church  in  one  age  sanctioned,  the  Church  in  another 
age  might  correct.  The  one  great  object  of  Parker  was 
to  avoid  Sectarianism,  which  stereotypes  its  doctrines  and 
renders  improvement  impossible.  The  archbishop  laid 
down  certain  regulations  or  rules  to  be  observed  by  the 
translators.  They  were  to  follow  the  Great  Bible,  and  to 
make  alterations  only  when  there  was  a  manifest  devia- 
tion from  the  Greek  or  Hebrew  original.  With  an 
evident  allusion  to  the  Geneva  Bible,  the  English  trans- 
lators were  warned  "  to  make  no  use  of  bitter  notes 
upon  any  text,  or  yet  to  set  down  any  determination 
in  places  of   controversy."     Chapters  and  places  "con^ 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  325 

taining  matter  of  genealogies,  or  other  such  places  not     chap. 
edifying,"  were  to  be  noted  with  some  mark   that   the  > — -,— > 
reader     might    eschew   them    in    his    public    reading.     Parker. 
Words  which   in  the  old  translation  "  sounded  to  any    1559-75. 
offence  of  lightness  or  obscenity,  were  to  be  expressed  in 
more  convenient  terms  and  phrases."     The  archbishop 
found  an  able  coadjutor  in  the  Bishop  of  Ely,  Dr.  Cox, 
who  urged  the  avoidance  as  much  as  possible  of  "  ink- 
horn  terms,"  and  an  adherence  "  to  such  usual  words  as 
in  English  people  are  acquainted  with,  so  far  forth  as  the 
Hebrew  could  bear  it." 

Besides  his  duties  as  general  editor,  the  archbishop 
himself  undertook  the  translation  of  the  Books  of  Genesis 
and  Exodus  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  the  New,  of  St. 
Matthew  and  St.  Mark,  with  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ex- 
cepting the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans  and  the  First  to  the 
Corinthians.  "The  Sun  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Tables 
of  Christ's  Line,"  the  Preface  to  the  Psalter,  the  Preface 
to  the  whole  Bible,  and  the  Preface  to  the  New  Testament 
were  also  attributed  to  Parker. 

The  Bishops'  Bible  was  published  in  1568,  in  a  magni- 
ficent volume,  printed  by  J.  Jugge,  cum  privilegio  regice 
majestatis.  Canon  Westcott  remarks  on  the  favourable 
contrast  it  affords  when  compared  with  other  versions, 
including  the  Genevan  version,  to  the  effect  that  no 
words  of  flattery,  such  as  disfigure  and  disgrace  the 
Calvinistic  version,  can  be  found  in  the  Bishops'  version. 
It  is  even  without  a  dedication. 

Notwithstanding  the  manoeuvres  of  the  Calvinists,  and 
the  influence  of  their  patron,  the  profligate  Leicester,*  when 

*  Leicester  evidently  used  his  influence  with  the  queen  to  delay 
her  acceptance  of  the  volume.  It  was  signified  at  last  through  the 
Canons  of  the  Church,  which  could  have  had  no  legal  effect  unless 
they  had  been  authorized  by  the  crown. 


326  lives  or  Tin; 

CJUP,    the,  Bishops'  Bible  bad  fair  play,  it  was  so  well  received 

— -v — '  that  it  superseded,  to  a  considerable  extent,  the  Geneva 
Matthew    -p..,  .  m r   .  .  .    .  _  _      .        _ 

Parker.     Jbiblc.     lo  tins  great  work  justice  was  not  done  during  the 

1569-75.  primacy  of  Grindal ;  but,  even  in  spite  of  difficulties,  it 
became  the  basis  of  that  authorized  version  which  is 
now  upheld  by  the  very  Calvinists  by  whom  it  was  at 
first  opposed.  It  was  enjoined  that  each  cathedral  should 
have  a  copy,  and  the  same  provision  was  extended,  "  so 
far  as  it  could  conveniently  be  done,"  to  all  parochial 
churches  ;  but  not  only  this,  it  was  ordered,  moreover, 
"that  every  archbishop  and  bishop  should  have  at  his 
house  a  copy,  to  be  placed  in  the  hall  or  large  dining-room, 
that  it  might  be  useful  to  their  servants  or  to  strangers." 

The  assertions  of  Calvinists  in  favour  of  the  Geneva 
Bible  have  been,  and  still  are,  very  often  taken  for  granted, 
even  by  those  to  whom  Calvin  is  not  a  hero  deserving 
worship.  It  is  said,  and  most  probably  with  truth,  that 
the  Greek  scholarship  was  superior  to  the  Hebrew  ;  but, 
as  regards  the  New  Testament,  the  translators  were 
evidently  up  to  the  scholarship  of  the  age  ;  and,  indeed, 
if  they  were  indebted  to  the  Genevan  translators,  they 
certainly  were  not  more  so  than  they  were  to  every  other 
translator.  So  far  from  deferring  on  all  points  to  the 
Swiss  interpreters  or  translators,  our  divines  called  in  the 
assistance  of  Chatillon,  or,  as  he  called  himself,  Castalio, 
avIio  had  been  attacked  by  Beza  with  all  the  intolerant 
vehemence  which  is  characteristic  of  his  age  and  party. 

The  tendency  of  the  age,  from  which  the  Church  of 
Borne  did  not  itself  escape,*  was  to  sectarianize  Churches  ; 
or  to  create  sects  by  providing  each  with  a  compact  sys- 
tem of  doctrine  reasoned  out  into  minute  detail.     By  its 


*  This  may  be  seen  in  some  of  the  definitions  of  the  Council 
Trent,  and  especially  in  the  catechism  of  Pope  Pius. 


ARCHBISHOPS  OF   CANTERBURY.  327 

"  Confession,"  as  such  a  document  was  technically  called,     chap. 

each  sect  was  to  be  distinguished  from  every  other  com-  > V - 

m unity  of  Christians  *    The  human  mind  is,  from  its  very    parked 
constitution,  logical,  and  men  are  led  into  error  not  so    10.39-7.3. 
much  by  conclusions  wrongly  drawn,  but  by   premises  sjo"seof 
accepted  without  examination.     Hence  a  love  of  system  faith- 
sectarianizes  the  mind ;  and  we  are  not  surprised  to  hear 
that  a  demand  was  soon  raised  In  England  for  the  adoption 
of  one,  or  other  of  the  continental  Confessions,  or  else  for 
the  creation  of  a  national  Confession,  to  form  the  pecu- 
liarity of  the  English   Church,  thus  narrowed  to  a  sect. 
With  these  demands,  some  of  the  earlier  reformers,  such  as 
Cranmer,  sympathized  ;  but  by  the  marvellous  and  special 
Providence  of  God,  which  has  ever  watched  over  the  Eng- 
lish Church,  they  found  difficulties  in  the  way  which  they 
were  unable  to  surmount.    The  whole  tendency  of  Parker's 
mind  and  of  his  system  of  theology  ran  in  the  opposite  di- 
rection ;  and  to  his  prudence  we  are  indebted  for  an  escape 
from  what  would  have  constituted  us  a  sect,  and  have 
prevented  for  ever  our  union  with  other  branches  of  the 
Catholic  Church. 

But  Parker  had  soon  to  encounter  a  practical  difli-  ^tateof 
culty  ;  a  difficulty  wiiich  seems  to  have  been  overlooked  country, 
by  the  learned  divines  who  have  treated  on  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles,  but  which  must  materially  influence  our 
judgment  of  that  formulary.     The  difficulty  arose  from 

*  If  a  Lutheran  rejects  the  Lutheran  Confession  of  Faith,  or  the 
Calvinist  the  Calvinistic  system,  the  first  ceases  to  be  a  Lutheran  and 
the  second  a  Calvinist.  The  difference  between  these  Confessions  and 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles  is  apparent  at  once  to  those  who  pay  attention 
to  the  subject.  If  Convocation  were  to  reject  the  Thirty-nine  Articles 
to-morrow,  the  Church  of  England  would  remain,  as  it  has  always 
been,  a  living  body,  having  in  that  character  as  much  right  to  reject 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles  in  the  nineteenth  celittiry  as  it  had  to  enforce 
them  in  the  sixteenth. 


328  LIVES   OF    THE 

chap.     the  condition  of  the  country,  and  of  that  condition  w< 

._  x-  ,  have  Parker's  own  statement.  In  a  long  letter  addressed 
r-irko^  S*r  Nicholas  Bacon,  in  March,  1558-9,  from  which  quots 
ioo9-7r>.  tions  have  been  already  made,  the  archbishop,  after  hav- 
ing denounced,  in  unqualified  terms,  John  Knox  *  and  his 
mischievous  political  pamphlets,  proceeds  thus :  "  They 
say  the  realm  is  full  of  Anabaptists,  Arians,  Libertines, 
Free-will  Men,  &c.,  against  whom  only  1  thought  ministers 
should  be  needed  to  fight  in  unity  of  doctrine.  As  to  the 
Eomish  adversaries,  their  mouths  may  be  stopped  with 
their  books  and  confessions  of  late  days."  The  arch- 
bishop received  a  letter  from  the  queen  to  the  same  pur- 
pose. The  queen's  majesty  complains  of  an  influx  of 
foreigners  into  England,  "  some  of  whom,"  she  said, 
"  were  infected  with  dangerous  opinions,  contrary  to  the 
faith  of  Christ's  Church." 

While  the  Protestants  and  the  whole  reforming  party 
were  thus  divided ;  the  controversy  became  the  more 
acrimonious  by  the  extreme  and  uncharitable  violence 
with  which  all  these  parties,  however  differing  from  one 
another,  united  in  their  vituperation  of  whatsoever  they 
designated  as  popery. 

No  wonder  that  complaint  was,  under  these  circum- 
stances, made  of  a  diversity  of  teaching  on  the  part  of  the 

*  Parker  alludes  particularly  to  "  The  first  Blast  of  the  Trumpet 
against  the  monstrous  Regimen  of  Women.  By  John  Knox."  This 
is  described  by  Hardwick  as  "  a  savage  treatise."  Of  John  Knox, 
Archbishop  Parker  and  the  English  reformers  had  a  just  abhorrence. 
In  writing  to  Cecil  in  November,  1559,  Parker  prays  that  God  may 
preserve  the  Church  from  such  a  visitation  as  Knox. — Correspondence^ 
p.  105.  Randolph,  in  a  letter  to  Cecil,  quoted  by  Nares,  says  of  the 
Calvinistic  preachers  in  Scotland,  "  they  are  as  wilful  as  they  are 
unlearned."  Of  John  Knox  he  said,  "  He  is  more  vehement  than 
decent  or  learned.  On  Sunday  last  he  gave  the  cross  and  the  candle 
such  a  wipe,  that  those  as  learned  and  wise  as  himself  wished  him  to 
have  held  his  peace." 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  o20 

preachers ;  nor  are  we   surprised   that  in   consequence     chap. 
of  this  complaint,  it  was  considered  necessary,  not  indeed   — -^ — - 
to  devise  a  scheme  of  theology,  but  to  take  measures  to    VLrkerT 
create  an  agreement  upon  certain  of  the  more  prominent    1559-75. 
points  of  controversy,  among  those  wThose  business  it  was 
to  instruct   a   people  whose   ignorance  was,  taking  the 
mass  of  them,  profound.     On   this  ground  the  articles 
had  been  drawn  up  at    the  episcopal  "  assessus  ;"  and 
Parker  could  not  resist  a  demand  for  an  increase  in  the 
number  of  articles,  and  for  the  submission  of  them,  when 
they  rose  to  the  importance  of  a  formulary,  to  the  judg- 
ment of  Convocation. 

This  was  the  origin  of  the  far-famed  Thirty-nine  Arti-  Thirty- 
cles.  Parker  clearly  understood  the  nature  of  the  task  Articles, 
which  devolved  upon  him.  He  was  not  to  draw  up  a 
new  scheme  of  doctrine.  It  had  been  already  ruled  that, 
in  the  Church  of  England,  the  preachers  were  to  accept 
the  tradition  of  the  Church  and  to  carry  it  on,  except 
when  synods,  on  comparing  the  tradition  with  holy 
Scripture — the  fallible  tradition  with  the  infallible  Word 
of  God — had  found  the  tradition  to  be  at  fault.  Amid 
the  entangled  web  of  human  controversy  Parker  had  to 
point  out  what,  in  their  teaching,  the  preachers  were  to 
avoid ;  or  if  there  was  recourse,  in  any  instance,  to  dogma, 
it  was  simply  because  it  was  only  by  a  statement  of  fact, 
that  the  nature  of  a  controversy  could  be  debated.  Cer- 
tain things  the  English  clergy  were  not  to  teach,  because, 
upon  those  particular  points  the  Church  of  England  had 
spoken  authoritatively ;  beyond  this  there  was  liberty. 
They  were  not  to  inquire  what  Luther  or  Calvin  opined, 
but  what  the  Church  in  all  ages  had  taught,  and  what 
the  English  Church  in  her  late  synods,  held  under  the 
authority  of  the  sovereign,  had  decreed. 

That  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  were    intended   to   bd 


330  LIVES  Of  Tin. 

chap,     articles  of  peace  is    an    assertion  which  cannot  be  si 

^ .  stantiated  by  history.     There  was  no  immediate  attempt 

plrfcer!*    t0  f°rce  men  to  concur  in  opinion ;  this  Parker  knew  to 
ioo9-75.    be  an  impossibility;  the  desire  was,  to  prevent  them  from 
disputing  in  public,  by  showing  that  on  certain  contro 
verted  points,  the  Church,  in  synod,  had  given  judgment ; 
and  men  were   called  to  act  modestly  by  ''hearing  th 
Church."     That  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  as  drawn  up  b 
Parker,  were  controversial  articles  we  may  admit — we 
may  even  contend  ;  but,  as  we  have  shown,  the  contro- 
versy was  not  directed  against  the  Catholic  party,  as  i 
sometimes  supposed.    The  Catholics  were  in  possession  o 
most  of  the  churches ;  the  Eomanists,  using  the  word  in 
its  strict  sense,  had   already  left   the   Church — that  is, 
those  who  insisted  upon  the  papal  supremacy  had  quit  tec 
their  preferments  and  had  gone  abroad  ;  a  large  party. 
the  vast  majority  of  the  clergy,  remained  in  the  English 
Church,   reprobating   popery,  but   retaining  a  love  for 
medieval  practices  if  not  always  for  medieval  doctrine  ; 
and  among  those  there  were  some  who  were  willing  to 
abjure  allegiance  to  the  pope,  but  who  could  not  mak 
up  their  minds  to  take  the  oath  of  royal  supremacy,  as 
tendered  by  the  government.     This  large  body  of  both 
clergy  and  laity,  Cecil,  as  a  statesman,  had  no  wish  to 
offend  ;  the  queen  had  an  abhorrence  of  Calvin  and  th 
Calvinistic  tenets  ;  and  the  archbishop  himself  wras  ac 
cused,  and  he  admitted  to  a  certain  extent  the  justice  o 
the  charge,  that  he  treated  this  body  of  men  with  leniency; 
he  declined,  when  they  conducted  themselves  peaceably, 
to  press  upon  them  the  oath    of  supremacy.     Add    to 
this   what  has    been    before    affirmed,    that    all  politica 
parties  were  at  this  time  afraid,  not  of  the  Catholics,  but 
of  the  ultra-Protestants,   and  it  will   be  admitted,  that 
when  modern  controversialists  would  assume  an  exclusiv 


y 


! 

! 
I 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF  CANTERBURY.  33l 

Protestant   character  for   the  Thirty-nine   Articles,  they    chap. 
speak  from  conjecture,  not  from  history.     So  far   from  * — -r — » 
denying  that  they  arc  opposed  to  much  which  is   now     Parker, 
called  Kornanism,  the  historian  must  affirm  it ;  but  his    1559-75. 
affirmation  must  be  equally  strong,  that  they  are  in  the 
same  degree  opposed  to  much  which  in  these  days  would 
be  regarded  as  Protestantism. 

The  Articles  will  never  be  clearly  understood  unless 
their  strictly  controversial  character,  as  well  as  their  posi- 
tion in  combating  the  two  extremes,  be  fully  admitted. 
They  are  sometimes  censured  as  containing  an  imperfect 
statement  of  doctrine :  this  criticism,  however,  vanishes 
when,  on  an  appeal  to  history,  it  is  found,  that  no  general 
statement  of  doctrine  was  intended  ;  and  that  a  state- 
ment on  certain  controverted  points  of  theology  or  reli- 
gious practice  then  in  vogue  was  all  that  was  intended, 
as,  indeed,  it  is  all  that  we  find.  To  the  careless  reader 
it  may  appear  that  this  statement  is  contradicted  by  the 
first  five  Articles';  but  upon  examination  it  will  be  found, 
that  they  had  a  controversial  aspect,  and  stand  opposed, 
not  to  Pomanism,  much  less  to  Catholicism,  but  to  ultra- 
Protestantism.  The  Xicene  doctrine,  so  clearly  stated  in 
the  Articles,  was  accepted  by  Catholics  of  every  shade  of 
opinion,  whether  ^l?z(//c>-Catholics  or  Roman  Catholics  ; 
they  were,  when  not  opposed,  only  partially  accepted 
by  ultra-Protestants,  of  whom  the  queen  and  states- 
men who  now  imposed  the  Articles  had  a  just  abhor- 
rence— the  Anabaptists,  the  Arians,  the  Libertines,  and 
"  Unitarians"  of  every  form ;  and  to  these  perhaps  the 
learned  reader  will  add  the  Calvinists,  for  although  Calvin 
accepted  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  he  did  not  receive 
the  Nicene  definition  of  that  divine  truth — the  definition 
adopted  in  the  Articles* 


332  LIVES  OF   THE 

chap.  As  against  the  Romanists*  the  22nd  Article  is  regarded 
— V — '  as  specially  pointed;  but  without  any  desire  to  defenc 
Kirker.W    their  cause,  wc  must  not  forget,  that  the  medievalists  who 


e 

■ 


still  composed  the  Church,  did  not  think  that  it  of 
necessity  concerned  them.  Purgatory,  pardons,  images, 
relics,  and  the  invocation  of  saints  were  held  by  the 
Romanists  of  the  day;  but  the  conforming  Catholic. 
maintained  that  on  most  of  these  subjects  there  was 
doctrine  which  was  distinguishable  from  modern  notion 
prevalent  in  the  Church  of  Borne,  and  which  without 
censure  could  be  held  and  enforced.  They  argued, 
that  there  was  in  the  primitive  Church  a  view  of  these 
doctrines  distinct  from  what  was,  at  this  period,  held 
by  the  Eomanists  and  opposed  by  Protestants.  Now 
the  Church  of  England,  it  was  argued,  cannot  condemn 
the  primitive  Church,  because  to  the  Catholic  fathers 
and  to  the  ancient  bishops,  as  in  the  case  of  Jewel's 
challenge,  she  makes  her  appeal  against  Eome.  They 
therefore  continued  their  conformity  as  the  government 
desired  ;  and  Archbishop  Parker  would  not  disturb  them 
if  they  conducted  themselves  like  peaceable  subjects,  loyal 
to  Church  and  queen.  The  simple  historical  statement, 
that  this  article  did  not  drive  them  into  nonconformity, 
the  extreme  Eomanists  having  left  them,  establishes  the 
fact,  that  as  conforming  medievalists  argue  now,  so  they 
argued  in  the  sixteenth  century.  There  were  conforming 
Catholics  and  there  were  conforming  Puritans,  and  these 
the  government,  with  equal-handed  justice,  desired  t 


0 


*  The  words  Komanenses  and  Romanist.e  were  used  by  Luther  and 
Ulrich  Von  Hutten  to  designate  the  extreme  party, — what  we  should 
now  call  the  Ultra-Montanes.  So  far  back,  says  Archdeacon  Hard- 
wrick,  p.  389,  as  the  year  1520,  Bishop  Forbes  remarks,  in  addition, 
"  Just  so,  in  modern  French,  the  expression  parti  romaniste  is  used  for 
the  more  prominent  section  of  the  Ultra-Montanes." 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  333 

protect  from  persecuting  papists  on  the  one  hand,  and 
from  Puritans  equally  bitter  in  their  persecution  on  the 
other  hand.  **£ 

At  the  same  time,  while  we  admit  that  the  Article  just  1559-75. 
mentioned,  together  with  some  others,  was  directed 
against  the  extreme  on  the  Catholic  side,  there  are  other 
Articles,  in  which  the  medievalists  were  one  with  the 
English  reformers,  and  by  which  the  ultra-Protestants 
were  even  more  pointedly  condemned.  Such  are  the 
Articles  on  the  three  Creeds,  on  the  Church,  on  the 
Authority  of  the  Church,  on  the  Consecration  of  Bishops ; 
to  these  we  may  add  the  38th  Article,  -  on  that 
Socialism  which  was  confounded  in  many  minds  with 
Protestantism,  and  the  39th  Article,  on  a  Christian 
Man's  Oath.  No  one  can  accuse  contemporary  Catho- 
lics of  error  on  these  points ;  and  these  Articles  are,  in 
consequence,  directed  against  the  Protestants,  by  some 
of  whom  the  most  lax  opinions  were  at  that  time  held. 
The  Articles  on  the  Sacraments  are,  to  the  Catholic  mind, 
the  least  satisfactory.  It  is,  however,  to  be  remembered, 
that  they  were  drawn  up  before  the  definitions  of  the 
Council  of  Trent  were  accepted  by  Eomanists;  while  on 
no  one  subject  was  the  Protestant  world  more  divided. 
To  these  Articles  the  extremes  on  either  side  would  be 
unwilling  to  give  a  full  consent ;  but  certainly,  if  the 
extreme  on  one  side  should  contend  that  by  them 
Romanism  is  condemned,  the  extreme  on  the  other  side 
could  adduce  proof  of  a  designed  condemnation  of  ultra- 
Protestantism.  One  remarkable  fact  is  often  lost  sight 
of,  namely — that  in  confining  the  term  Sacrament — ex- 
cept in  the  lax  sense  in  which  the  term  is  applied  in  the 
Homilies — to  two  only  of  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel, 
the  object  was  not  to  depreciate  the  other  means  of 
grace,  but  to  elevate  these  two,     If  we  were  in  these 


I 


•34  LTVES   OP  THE 

chap,  days  to  speak  of  seven  Sacraments,  we  can  easily  imagine 
: — ,. — -  the  fierceness  with  which  we  should  be  assailed,  but  it 
Pa*w.  would  be  very  difficult  to  say  why.  Ultra-Protestants  do 
1459-Tfi.  not  discard  Baptism  and  the  Supper  of  the  Lord,  but 
they  do  not  admit  them  to  be  means  of  grace,  more  than 
other  ordinances — for  example,  preaching.  Our  reformers 
on  the  contrary,  held  that  by  baptism  we  are  united  t 
Christ,  and  that  by  the  Holy  Eucharist  our  union  with  Him 
is  continued.  Other  ordinances  are  means  of  grace — but 
not  of  that  special  grace  which  makes  these  two  generally 
necessary  to  salvation.  The  English  reformers,  and 
those  who  co-operated  with  Parker  in  drawing  up  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  did  not,  like  Zwingle  and  Calvin, 
and  other  ultra-Protestants,  regard  these  two  Sacraments 
only  as  "badges  or  tokens  of  Christian  men's  profession." 
Using  the  word  "  sign  "  in  the  technical  sense  in  which 
it  was  understood  by  the  universal  Church,  for  the  out- 
ward part  of  any  Sacrament,  they  directed  the  27th 
Article  against  the  ultra-Protestants  exclusively ;  Baptism 
being  a  sign  of  regeneration,  or  new  birth,  whereby,  as 
by  an  instrument,  they  that  receive  Baptism  rightly  are 
grafted  into  the  Body  of  Christ.  In  like  manner,  the 
28th  Article  begins  with  an  attack  on  the  low  view 
adopted  by  ultra-Protestants,  and  proceeds  to  affirm  that, 
although  Tran substantiation — a  particular  explanation  of 
the  real  presence  of  Him  who  has  declared  Himself 
present  whenever  two  or  three  are  assembled  in  his 
name — be  rejected  because  it  is  repugnant  to  the  plain 
words  of  Scripture,  yet  if  we  rightly,  worthily,  and  with 
faith  receive  the  outward  and  visible  signs,  the  bread  and 
wine,  we  partake  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ. 

It  is  not  intended  here,  however,  to  explain  the  Articles, 
but  simply  to  place  before  the  reader  the  view  taken  by 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  335 

Parker,  and  those  who  assisted  him  in  drawing  them.    The     chap. 
archbishop  realized  his  position.    He  was  not  the  founder  ^__^__ 
of  a  sect  deciding  upon  a  scheme  of  theology,  by  the     ?*&** 
acceptance  of  which  his  sect  would  be  at  all  times  dis-    1559-75. 
tinguished;  he  was  a  Catholic  metropolitan,  keeping  watch 
and  ward  over  the  deposit  he  had  received.     He  took 
the  Forty- two  Articles  for  the  bases  of  his  proceedings, 
and  then  was  prepared  to  submit  to  Convocation  a  for- 
mulary, the  impartiality  of  which  is  proved  by  the  fact, 
that  it  has  been  claimed  by  both  extremes,  though  be- 
longing   exclusively  to   the   via    media — that   mean    in 
which  truth  is  sure  to  be  found.      The  Calvinists,  at  the 
commencement  of  this  century,  claimed  the  Articles  as 
abetting  them  ;    and  now,   at  the  close  of  the  century, 
the  tables  are    turned,  and  a  Scottish  prelate  has  pub- 
lished a  learned  treatise  on  the  Articles,  intended  to  show 
that  they  are  exclusively  Catholic. 

The  archbishop,  in  preparing  the  Articles,  invited  the 
co-operation  of  the  Bishop  of  Ely,  Dr.  Cox,  on  whose 
principles  and  good  sense  he  could  entirely  rely  ;  of  Dr. 
Gheast,  the  Bishop  of  Eochester,  a  weak  man,  but  easily 
influenced  by  the  archbishop;  and  of  the  Bishop  of  London, 
Dr.  Grindal,  a  man  whom  he  loved  for  his  many  virtues, 
and  who,  notwithstanding  his  Puritan  proclivities,  was  not 
a  party  man,  although  his  ambition  was  a  weakness,  as 
it  consisted  in  a  desire  to  please  all  parties. 

The  bases  of  the  proceedings  being  the  Latin  Articles 
of  1553,  we  refer  with  interest  to  a  document  preserved 
in  the  far-famed  library  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cam- 
bridge, an  exact  copy  of  which  has  been  printed  by  Dr. 
Lamb.  In  this  document  we  find  several  alterations  made 
in  Parker's  handwriting,  so  far  as  the  original  is  concerned, 
while  in  the  printed  copy  they  are  given  to  us  in  italics. 


336  LIVES   OK   THE 

CHAP.     The  archbishop  added  Wnw  new  Articles,  and  as  many  ii 
•— •*- — '  number  were   omitted.     In  seventeen  others,  alteration 

Matthew 

Parker,  were  made  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  The  Articles  erase< 
1W-75.  were  the  10th,  Of  Grace,  and  the  16th,  Of  Blasphemy 
of  the  Holy  Ghost;  together  with  the  19th,  Of  the  Ob- 
ligation of  all  to  observe  the  Principles  of  the  Moral  Law, 
and  the  41st,  against  the  Millenarians.  The  four  Articles 
added  were  the  5th,  Of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  the  12th,  0 
Good  Works  ;  the  29th,  Of  the  Wicked  which  eat  not  th 
Body  of  Christ  in  the  use  of  the  Lord's  Supper ;  and  th 
30th,  Of  both  kinds. 

In  the  2nd  Article  the  clause  is  introduced,  "  begotten 
from  everlasting  of  the  Father,  the  very  and  eternal  God." 
This  was  an  addition  which  the  Catholics  required,  because 
among  the   Protestants,   as  we   have   remarked  before, 
although  the  sects  did  not,  in  general,  deny  the  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity,  there  were  some  who  demurred  to  the  de- 
finition, "  Deus  de  Deo."     Eegard  here  was  had  to  the 
error,  not  of  Eomanists,  but  of  ultra-Protestants.     We 
may  further  remark  on  the  omission  in  the  3rd  Article, 
of  our  Lord's  preaching  to  the  spirits  in  prison.      This 
was  omitted  because,  between  the  publishing  of  the  Forty- 
two   Articles  and  the  drawing    up   of   the   Thirty-nine, 
almost  all  controversy  on  the  subject  had  ceased.     Surely 
this  not  only  proves  the  temporary  nature  of  the  Articles 
in  the  design  of  the  archbishop  who  drew  them  up  and 
of  the  Convocation  which  first  adopted  them,  but  it  ought 
also  to  be  adduced  as  an  example  worthy  of  imitation 
If  the  Articles  were  altered  in  the  sixteenth  century  o 
points  upon  which  no  controversy  existed, — to  require  mei 
to  sign  Articles  in  the  nineteenth  century, concerning  whic 
no  controversy  at  present  exists,  is  an  inconsistency  fro 
which  we  may  expect  to  be  relieved.     At  a  period  when 
many  are  oblivious  of  the  distinction  which  exists 


I 


1559-75. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  337 

tween  the  Catholic  Church,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  chap. 
Protestant  sects  and  Komanism  on  the  other ;  at  a  period  -  ^'  _ 
when  we  find  ignorance  prevailing  on  some  of  the  funda-  Matthew 
mental  verities  of  the  Christian  faith,  we  ought  either  to 
have  no  Articles,  or  to  have  them  entirely  revised.* 

The  two  Articles  respecting  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment were  remodelled,  and  a  list  of  the  canonical 
and  apocryphal  books  was  appended.  In  the  10th,  Of 
Freewill,  the  9th  and  10th  of  the  preceding  series  of 
Articles  were  united.  The  11th,  Of  the  Justification  of 
Man,  and  the  12th,  Of  Good  Works,  were  enlarged ;  to  the 
title  of  the  16th  were  added  the  words,  "  after  Baptism." 
From  the  17th  was  withdrawn  a  clause  which  affirmed  that 
the  divine  decrees  are  unknown  to  us.  In  the  22nd,  Of 
Purgatory,  the  archbishop,  with  his  usual  caution,  sub- 
stituted the  word  Komish  for  that  of  Schoolmen.  The 
24th,  Of  Speaking  in  the  Congregation  in  such  a  tongue 
as  the  people  understandeth,  was  drawn  up  in  stronger 
terms  than  before.  The  25th,  Of  the  Sacraments,  was 
so  framed  as  to  make  the  distinction  clear  between  the 
Sacraments  and  the  Sacramentals,  the  ordinances  which 
unite  to  Christ,  and  the  other  means  of  grace*  He  ele* 
vated  the  former  without  unduly  depressing  the  latter. 
In  the  28th,  alterations  were  made  which  have  been 
already  noticed. f 

*  The  treatises  on  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  are  numerous.  The 
historical  student  will  study  Lamb,  Hardwick,  Cardwell's  Synodalia^ 
the  Bishop  of  Ely,  and  the  Bishop  of  Brechin.  The  learned  reader 
will  refer  to  Strype ;  but  the  student  must  be  warned,  that  in  what 
relates  to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  and  Parker's  concern  with  them$ 
Dr.  Lamb  shows  him  to  have  been  inaccurate. 

f  It  appears  from  the  correspondence  of  our  clergy  with  the  foreign 
reformers,  that  on  the  subject  of  the  Eucharist  there  was  known  to 
exist  great  differences  of  opinion  among  the  divines  of  the  Church  of 
England.     See  Zurich's  Letters,  ii.  125,  143.     Dbrman,  in  his  "  Dis- 

VOL.  IX.  Z 


338  LIVES   OF   THE 

Iii  the   82nd,  b  clause  was  added  by  which  Parker 

availed  himself  of  this  opportunity  to  carry  a  point,  upon 
PatkheW  t'H"  cairPnS  of  which  hia  lnfart  had  long  been  fixed  ;  and 
-  .5u_7-i  the  legality  of  marriage  on  the  part  of  bishops,  priests, 
and  deacons  was  at  length  openly  affirmed — made  even 
an  article  of  faith.  In  the  34th,  it  was  declared  that 
every  particular  and  national  Church  hath  authority  to 
ordain,  cherish,  or  abolish  ceremonies  and  rites  of  the 
Church ;  and  the  man  is  censured,  whosoever  by  his 
private  judgment  should  openly  break  the  traditions  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church.  The  titles  of  the  Homilies 
were  given  in  the  35th,  and  this  Article,  as  well  as  the 
36th,  Of  Consecration  of  Bishops,  was  entirely  recomposed. 
In  the  37th,  Of  the  Civil  Magistrates,  in  opposition  to 

proufe  of  Al.  Novelles  Reproofe,"  written"  in  15G5,  asserts  that  there 
were  great  differences  of  opinion  expressed  in  the  synod  of  15G2. 
He  affirms  that,  while  some,  like  Edmund  Gheast,  Bishop  of  Rochester, 
preached  "  The  Real  Presence,"  others,  like  Grindal,  denied  it. 
Parker,  he  says,  was  suspected  of  being  a  Lutheran.  Parker  was  not 
narrow-minded,  and  he  referred  to  things  new  as  well  as  old  in  forming 
his  judgments — to  the  ancient  fathers  and  to  modern  divines;  but 
among  moderns  he  would  have  as  little  to  do  with  the  Swiss  or  Calvin- 
istic  party  as  possible.  Like  the  English  reformers  who  preceded 
him,  he  consulted  Lutheran,  not  Helvetian  confessions;  Lutherans  deicr- 
ring  to,  and  Calvinists  thinking  scorn  of,  the  traditions  of  the  primitive 
Church.  The  article  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  as  revised  by  Parker 
and  his  associates,  was  especially  distasteful  to  the  "  Swiss  Party." 
llumphrys  and  Sampson,  writing  to  Bullinger  in  15G6,  complain  that 
the  article  which  oppugned  and  took  away  the  Real  Presence  in  the 
Eucharist  in  King  Edward's  Articles,  was  now  so  mutilated  as  to 
express  that  doctrine.  It  was  at  the  suggestion  of  Bishop  Gheast,  one 
of  Parker's  coadjutors,  that  the  paragraph  was  added,  that  the  Body  of 
Christ  is  given,  taken,  and  eaten  in  the  Lord's  Supper.  He  fully 
admitted  the  fact  in  a  letter  to  Cecil,  lately  discovered  among  the  State 
Papers,  and  quoted  in  pages  879-80  of  this  volume.  Parker,  who 
was  .charged  with  being  at  the  head  of  a  Lutherano-papistical  ministry, 
admits  that  there  was  material  difference  of  opinion  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  synod.  , 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  339 

'nox  and  other  ultra-Protestants,  the  royal  authority  is    chap. 
asserted,  and,  so  far  as  it  pertains  to  things  ecclesiastical,  . — ; — 

t    .        -,  Matthew 

explained.  Parker. 

The  archbishop  had  prepared  himself  to  submit  several    1559-75. 
other  proposals  for  legislation  to  the   synod.     He  pro- 
posed, for  instance,  to  make  regulations  with  reference  to 
the  apparel  of  the  clergy,  and   to  take   more  stringent  Apparel  0 
measures  to  prevent  "  the  clashing  of  doctrine"  which     eeet&r 
appeared  in  the  sermons  of  some  of  the  preachers.     The 
money  payments  made  for  a  release  from  ecclesiastical  Ecciesias- 
censures  he  desired  to  see  appropriated  to  "  pious  uses,"  censures. 
and  at  the  same  time,  that  care  should  be  taken  for  the 
infliction  of  the  punishment  due  to  persons  excommu-  Excommu- 
nicated.    He  intended  to  introduce  a  measure — carried  mcatlon- 
only  within  the  last  few  years — for  placing  peculiars  and  Peculiars. 
the  sites  of  monasteries  under  episcopal  superintendence ; 
and  that  simony  should  be  punished  in  the  case  of  the  simony, 
presenter  as  well  as  in  that  of  the  presentee.     Several 
questions  of  minor  importance  suggested  themselves  to 
Ids   mind,    such  as   related    to   dilapidations,   to  tenths,  Diiapida- 
and  subsidies ;  to  the  pensions  to  be  paid  to  the  reli-  Pensions 
gious,  that  is,  to  monks  or  nuns  who  had  been  driven,  ^9** 

&  t       '    religious. 

or  who  had  voluntarily  retired,  from  the  monasteries ; 
and  for  the  relief  of  the  poorer  clergy.  Owing  to 
the  difficulty  of  managing  the  Convocation,  and  the 
opposition  of  the  courtiers  hostile  to  the  Church,  Parker 
was  unable  to  carry  these  wise  measures  ;  but  that  we 
are  justified  in  speaking  of  them  as  wise,  is  apparent 
from  the  fact,  that  several  of  these  very  measures 
have  been  enacted  in  our  days  ;  and  by  this  delay  in 
their  enactment,  abuses  haye  been  permitted  to  remain 
in  the  Church,  to  the  detriment  of  the  institution,  and  to 
the  danger  of  public  morality. 


z  2 


340  LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAPTEE  XI. 

PARKER   IN   CONVOCATION. 

Programme  for  the  opening  of  Convocation  drawn  up  by  the  Archbishop. 
— Meeting  of  Convocation  on  12th  of  January. — Sermon  preached  by 
the  Provost  of  Eton. — Dean  Nowell  prolocutor. — Defaulters  pro- 
nounced contumacious. — Meetings  at  the  Chapter  House  of  St.  Paul's 
and  in  Henry  VII.'s  Chapel. — Revolutionary  measures  of  the  minority. 
— Bishop  Sandys. — Alterations  proposed  in  the  Prayer  Book. — Mino- 
rity of  thirty-three. — Dissenting  tactics. — Church  saved  by  Anglo- 
Catholics. — Prolocutor  accepted  by  the  Primate. — Thirty-nine  Arti- 
cles accepted  by  the  Northern  Convocation  as  well  as  by  that  of  Can- 
terbury.— Clause  in  the  20th  Article. — Nowell's  Catechisms. — Cecil 
and  Parker  opposed  to  Sectarianism. — Catechism  formally  received 
but  not  adopted  by  the  Synod. — Freedom  of  speech  encouraged. — 
Legislation  prevented. — Unsatisfactory  state  of  the  Temporalities. — 
Dissolution  of  Convocation. — Parker's  description  of  the  members. 
— Lenient  policy. — Clerical  apparel. — Marriage  with  a  deceased 
wife's  sister. — Convocation  of  1571. — Subscription  to  the  Articles. — • 
Catholicism  of  the  English  Church. — Ancient  Catholic  canons  still 
the  law  of  the  Church  of  England. — Convocation  of  1572. — Arch- 
bishop's speech. 

chap.  Public  processions  and  ceremonials  of  state  were  pecu- 
liarly irksome  to  a  man  like  Parker,  whose  tastes  were 
simple  and  whose  health  was  infirm.  Nevertheless  he 
Was  aware,  that  he  is  no  philosopher  who  does  not  attend 
to  little  things ;  and  at  a  time  when  the  courtiers  were 
endeavouring  to  bring  the  Church  into  contempt,  he  was 
determined  not  to  abate  any  part  of  the  magnificence 
which  had  hitherto  marked  the  opening  of  Convocation 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  341 

— an  event  regarded  with  an  interest  only  second  to  that    chap. 
which  was  excited  by  the  opening  of  parliament.*  * — i_ 

The  programme  of  the  proceedings  under  which  Con-    p^kerT 
vocation  was  to  be  opened  was,  if  not  drawn  up  by  the    1559-75 
archbishop,  submitted  to  his  inspection,  and  was  by  him  ^cllnvo 
carefully  revised.     Both  the  queen  and  the  archbishop  cation, 
were  careful  to  remind  the  people,  that   they   had   no  12, 1562. 
intention  to  establish  a  Protestant  sect  in  England ;  and 
that,  although  the  old  Catholic  Church  was  to   be  re- 
formed, it   was,   nevertheless,  to  remain   the   same  old 
Church,  even  as  a  man,  when  his  face  has  been  washed, 
remains  the  same  man   he  was  before ;   and  therefore 
Parker  adhered  strictly  to  ancient  precedent.     The  Ee- 
formation,  however,  required  that  some  slight  alterations 
should  be  made  in  the  programme.    This  was  so  skilfully 
drawn  out,  that  the  Convocation  is,  to  the  present  hour, 
opened  as  nearly  as  possible  according  to  the  precedent 
established  by  Parker,  who  did  himself  only  modify,  and 
that  very  slightly,  the  forms  which  had  been  observed 
in  the  medieval  Church.     Of  our  public  ceremonials,  the 
opening  of  Convocation  is  the  most  striking,  with  the 
exception  only  of  the  opening  of  parliament  by  the  sove- 
reign in  person. 

The  Convocation  was  summoned  to  meet  on  the  12th 
of  January.  It  was  on  that  day  opened  by  Dr.  Eobert 
Weston,  the  archbishop's  official  of  the  Court  of  Canter- 


*  The  registers  of  this  Convocation  were  destroyed  in  the  fire  of 
London,  1666.  But  a  journal  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Upper  House, 
taken  from  certain  extracts  of  the  proceedings  of  Convocation  from 
1529  to  1562,  was  published  by  Bishop  Gibson  in  his  Synodus  Angli- 
cana  in  1702.  See  also  Strype's  Annals,  I.  ii.  471  ;  and  Hardwick  on 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  p.  133.  Joyce,  on  English  Synods,  p.  554, 
graces  the  outlines  of  the  proceedings  from  the  Acta  in  Superiore 
Porno  Convocatipnis,  Anno  15G2,  printed  by  Strype, 


342 


LIVES   OF  TIIK 


CHAP. 

XI. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-7o. 


Procession 

of  the 
arch- 
bishop. 


bury,  iii  virtue  of  a  commission  from  the  primate.  Tli 
commission  issued  by  his  grace  to  Dr.  Weston,  to  Thomas 
Yale,  the  archbishop's  vice-general  in  spirituals ;  to 
Henry  Jones,  and  to  Valentine  Dale,  advocate  of  his 
Court  of  Arches.  The  commission  empowered  them,  or 
some  of  them,  to  continue  and  prorogue  the  synod  until 
the  next  day,  Wednesday,  the  13th  of  January. 

At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  January, 
15G2-3,  the  Lord  Archbishop  entered  his  state  barge,* 
accompanied  by  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Lincoln  ;  and  pass- 
ing down  the  most  splendid  thoroughfare  of  London,  he 
landed  at  Paul's  Wharf.  Here  his  grace  was  met  by  the 
advocates,  proctors,  and  other  officials  of  his  court;  and 
they  preceded  him  and  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  on  foot  to  the 
south  door  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  At  the  south  door, 
the  dean,  the  canons,  and  other  ministers  of  the  cathedral, 
arrayed  in  their  surplices,  were  in  waiting,  to  escort  his 
grace  to  the  vestry.  In  the  vestry,  the  archbishop 
found  his  suffragans  in  attendance ;  and  having  assumed 
the  archiepiscopal  vestments,  he  took  his  place  in  a 
procession  formed  by  his  suffragans,  all  of  whom  were 
arrayed  in  their  convocation  robes.  They  were  pre- 
ceded by  the  cathedral  clergy  in  their  surplices. f  The 
bishop  of  the  diocese,  of  course,  occupied  the  throne : 
the  dean's  stall  was  appropriated  to  the  archbishop  ;  his 

*  I  take  the  account  chiefly  from  the  Acta  in  Superiore  Domo 
Convocations  incepta?  Anno  1562,  as  printed  in  the  Synodus  Angli- 
cann.  The  archbishop's  progress  is  described,  and  he  is  represented 
as  "  solvens  in  naviculu  sua  vulgo  nuncupata  a  Barge  ad  ripam  vocatam 
Paul's  Wharf." 

j-  The  frequent  reference  to  the  robes  of  the  bishops  and  the  other 
clergy  was  occasioned  by  the  "  vestment  controversy,"  then  beginning. 
The  account  drawn  up,  probably  under  Parker's  inspection,  might  be 
useful  in  showing,  that  conformity  in  this  respect  was  expected  on  the 
part  of  all  who  accepted  the  episcopal  office. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  843 

suffragans  being  placed,  on  either  side,  in  the  stalls  of 
the  prebendaries.  The  ministers  of  the  church,  the 
priest  vicars  and  lay  vicars  together,  chanted  the  Litany  VarUr 
in  English.  The  Latin  tongue,  as  has  been  subsequently  1 009-7. 
the  custom,  might  have  been  used ;  but  to  avoid  offence, 
both  the  Litany  and  the  Yeni  Creator  which  followed, 
were    sung    in    English.       The   Provost  of   Eton   was  Sermon  j 

T  &  .  -r-r-        -,  St.  Paul' 

appointed  preacher  on  tne  occasion.  His  degree  was 
that  of  B.D.,  and  he  preached  in  a  black  gown,  that  is, 
in  the  gown  and  hood  of  a  Bachelor  of  Divinity.  The 
pulpit  was  moved  into  the  body  of  the  church ;  and 
there  the  provost  delivered  a  Latin  discourse,  taking  for 
his  text,  1  Peter  v.  2 — "  Pascitc  quantum  in  vobis  est," 
etc.  The  sermon  ended,  the  first  Psalm  was  chanted,  and 
the  Holy  Communion  was  celebrated,  the  celebrant  being 
"  the  Eeverend  Father,  Lord  Edmund  Grindal,  bishop  of 
the  diocese."  The  archbishop  and  his  suffragans  received 
"  the  Sacrament  of  the  Saviour's  Body  and  Blood." 

Eeturning  to  the  Chapter  House,  the  bishops  formed  a  Assembly 
semicircle  around  the  archbishop.     His  grace  was  seated  chapter 
in  the  middle,  the  suffragans  being  arranged  on  either  side.  House- 
Some  formal  business  having  been  first  transacted,  the 
archbishop  addressed  the  bishops  and  clergy  there  and 
then  assembled.     He  reminded  them,  that  although  a  re-  Arch- 
formation  of  the  Church  had  been  commenced,  yet  it  was  across! 
not  completed.     Much  remained  to  be  done.     The  main 
business  of  the  synod  would  therefore  be  to  set  in  order 
the  things  that  were  wanting  in  the  Church.    He  assured 
them  that  it  was  the  earnest  desire  of  the  queen  and  her 
councillors  to  render  every  assistance  in  their  power,  that 
the  good  work  already  begun  might  be  brought  to  a 
happy  termination.     He  directed  the  prelates  and  clergy 
of  the  Lower  House  *  to  make  choice  of  a  referendary  or 

*  They  are>styled  "  Prcelatos  et  clerum  inferioris  domus."     The  title 


3 1 1 


LIVES   oi'   THE 


CHAP. 

XI. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 

Alexander 
Nowell 
elected 
prolo- 
cutor. 


Presenta- 
tion of 
prolocu- 
tor. 


prolocutor ;  and,  as  the  manner  then  was,  having  granted 
a  liberty,  he  immediately  infringed  upon  the  grant  by 
significantly  recommending  to  their  choice  the  dean  of 
the  cathedral  in  which  they  were  at  that  time  assembled, 
Alexander  Nowell.  They  were  to  present  him  for  the 
approval  of  the  President  of  the  Convocation,  on  the 
following  Saturday.  The  archbishop  commissioned  his 
chancellor  to  receive  the  bishops'  certificatories,  and 
having  pronounced  those  who  had  not  obeyed  the  present 
summons  contumacious,  he  adjourned  the  Convocation. 
At  two  o'clock  on  the  day  appointed,  the  16th  of  January, 
the  Convocation  again  met  in  the  Chapter  House  of  St. 
Paul's.  The  Latin  Litany  was  sung  by  the  archbishop 
himself  in  a  clear  and  distinct  voice ;  the  bishops  and 
clergy  present  joining  in  the  responses. 

The  two  Houses  having  separated  after  prayers,  the 
Lower  House  after  a  short  interval  re-appeared.  Dr. 
Alexander  Nowell,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  was  introduced  by 
Gabriel  Goodman,  Dean  of  Westminster,  and  Thomas 
Simpson,  Dean  of  Exeter,  as  the  person  elected  by  the 
Lower  House  to  be  their  prolocutor  or  referendary.  Dean 
Nowell,  as  the  custom  then  was,  in  the  appointment 
both  of  a  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  and  a  pro- 
locutor of  the  Lower  House  of  Convocation,  depreciated 
himself,  and  gave  sundry  reasons  to  prove  his  insufficiency 
for  the  office,  though,  if  it  were  forced  upon  him,  he 
intimated  his  willingness  to  accept  it.  Another  form  was 
observed — the  Upper  House  required  the  Lower  House 
to  retire  while  their  lordships  deliberated  on  the  appoint- 
ment. Everything  having  been  pre-arranged,  this  form 
did  not  consume  much  time ;  and  on  the  re-admission  of 


i 


of  Prelates  is  not  confined  in  our  public  documents  to  bishops.  Under 
that  denomination  are  included  deans  and  archdeacons,  and  any  of  the 
clergy  who  possess  ordinary  jurisdiction  over  their  brethren,. 


ARCHBISHOPS  OF  CANTERBURY.  345 

the  Lower  House,  the  election  of  Dean  Nowell  was  con-    chap. 

XI 

firmed,  subject  to  the  sanction  of  the  queen,  - — r  _- 

The  attendance  of  the  bishops  in  the  House  of  Lords    pLkerT 
then  sitting  would  be  occasionally  required,  and  therefore,    l559  75» 
to  meet  their  convenience,  the  next  session  of  Convocation 
was  appointed  to  be  held  in  Westminster  Abbey.*  On  the 
19th,  the  Dean  of  Westminster  appeared  to  protest  against 
the  assumption  of  any  rights  on  the  part  of  Convocation 
within  the  precincts  of  the  Abbey.     It  was  admitted  by 
the  archbishop,  that  this  Convocation  was  held   in  the 
precincts  of  the  Abbey  only  by  the  courtesy  of  the  clean 
and  chapter.     This  form  is  continued  to  the  present  day. 
We  must  attribute  to  the  quiet  and  unobtrusive  policy 
of  the  archbishop  a  fact  otherwise  unaccountable,  that 
most  historians  have  overlooked,  the  violent  and  revolu-  Revolu- 
tionary measures  proposed  by  a  considerable  party  in  the  measures 
Convocation  of  1563,  which,  if  carried  out,  woud  have  propose  * 
annihilated  the  Church.     The  conforming  Puritans,  those 
who,  adhering  to  Calvinistic  theology,  had  a  desire  to 
share  likewise  in  the  tithes  and  broad  acres  still  in  the 
possession  of  the  Church  of  England,  formed  a  compact 
body  in  the  Convocation,  to  the  number  of  rather  more 
than  thirty.      From  their  principles  and  their  temper  we 
may  form  some  notion  of  the  difficulties  with  which  Arch- 
bishop Parker  had  to  contend ;  and  in  the  frustration  of 
their  machinations,  so  calmly  effected,  we  read  the  wisdom 
and  self-command  of  the  metropolitan. 

As  usual  under  such  circumstances,  this  party  was 
abetted  by  those  who  had  little  or  no  sympathy  with  them 
in  their  opinions  ;  but  who  sought  popularity,  and  were 
ambitious  of  appearing  to  the  queen  and  to  the  states- 

*  "  In  capella  nuncupata  Henry  VII.1  s  Chapel  infra  Ecclesiam  col- 
legiatam  Divi  Petri  Westminster   situata." — Acta  in   Convcc.  Annp 


LIVES  OF  tin: 


CHAP. 

\1. 

Matthfrw 
Pwker. 

i.vvj-:.-). 

lvlwin 
Bandy* 


ttien  of  the  age  as  better  qualified  to  direct  ecclesiastic* 
affairs  than  the  infirm  primate.     Among  these  was  Sandys, 

Bishop  of  Worcester,  a  worldly  man,  who  gave  the  arch- 
bishop considerable  trouble,  although  lie  always  professed 
to  be  personally  attached  to  him,  and  probably  did  value 
his  friendship,  Like  the  latitudinarian  prelates  of  our  own 
time,  he  was  found  to  be  in  his  diocese  so  despotic  and 
tyrannical,  that  Parker,  firm  to  his  principles,  but  lenient 
in  his  dealings  with  offenders,  felt  it  his  duty  to  remon- 
strate with  him.  As  age  advanced,  and  ambition  cooled, 
Sandys  took  a  more  correct  view  of  his  duties  ;  and  on  the 
archbishop's  death  he  appeared  as  one  of  the  mourners, 
deploring,  with  evident  sincerity,  the  loss  of  one  who  hac 
the  faculty  of  attaching  his  friends,  and  of  winning  to  hi 
friendship  many  who  had  at  one  time  been  among  hi 
opponents. 

In  the  Convocation  of  1563,  and  for  some  time  aftei 
Sandys  was  not  only  opposed  to  the  archbisliop,  but  in 
his  correspondence  scarcely  expressed  himself  with  tin 
decorum  and  respect  due  from  a  diocesan  to  his  eccl< 
siastical  superior. 

A  mischievous  project  was  brought  before  the  Upp( 
House  by  Sandys,  who  was  aware,  on  the  one  hand,  th* 
in  the  House  of  which  he  was  himself  a  member,  it  woulc 
receive  scarcely  any  support,  while  it  would  secure  hi 
popularity  with  the  Puritan  party  in  the  Lower  House. 
These,  though  powerful  in  influence  and  learning,  and  not 
contemptible  in  numbers,  were,  nevertheless,  not  likely 
to  carry  it,  for  the  majority  of  the  House  consisted 
of  the  Anglo-Catholics,  who  were  prepared  to  vote 
rather  than  to  talk.*     Bishop  Sandys  proposed  certah 


° 


*  We  cannot  suppose,  when  those  at  the  head  of  affairs  were  ac- 
customed to  pack  the  House  of  Commons,  that  Parker  had  not  taken 
measures  to  secure  a  majority  in  Convocation  favourable  to   Church 


ARCHBISHOPS   OP   CANTERBURY.  347 

alterations  to  be  made  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,     chat. 
and  he  arranged  his  proposals  un'der  the  three  following  s_^L- > 

it     .  Matthew 

neaOS  . Parker. 

I.  In  cases  of  necessity,  women,  duly  licensed,  had,    1559-75. 
from  time  immemorial,  been  permitted  to  baptize  children 

when  in  danger  of  their  lives.  Among  the  inconsistencies 
of  party,  the  Puritans,  who  profess  to  have  no  faith  in 
the  grace  of  orders,  and  who  regard  the  clergy  only  as 
preachers,  took  umbrage  at  this  custom ;  and  the  Bishop 
of  Worcester  proposed,  that  the  rubric  granting  the  licence 
should  be  altered,  by  the  authority  of  the  archbishop  as 
regarded  the  Church,  and  of  the  queen  as  regarded  the 
State.  The  Bishop  of  London,  Dr.  Grindal,  opposed  the 
Erastianism  of  Sandys,  and  contended  that  the  authority 
to  alter  rested  with  the  synod.  The  real  difficulty  with 
Sandys  was  this  :  the  Prayer-Book  having  been  embodied 
in  an  Act  of  the  legislature,  an  alteration  could  hardly  take 
place  without  submitting  it  to  parliament.  The  metro- 
politan, however,  could  make  the  change  so  far.  as  the  re- 
#  quirements  of  the  Church  were  concerned,  and  Sandys 
thought  that  the  queen's  imprimatur  would  serve  the 
purpose  of  an  Act  of  Parliament. 

II.  Under  this  head  Sandys  proposed  the  abolition  of 
the  cross  in  baptism,  but  was  defeated. 

III.  He  then  proposed  a  Eoyal  Commission  to  draw 
up  a  scheme  of  Church  discipline  and  government,  and 
sought  to  remove  the  former  objections  to  his  pro- 
posals by  suggesting,  that  application  should  be  made  to 

views.  It  was  his  policy  to  permit  the  Puritans  to  be  fully  repre- 
sented, though  kept  in  a  minority ;  for  although  he  much  feared  the 
ultra-Protestants,  he  must  have  felt  that  the  medieval  party  required 
to  be  kept  in  check,  and  he  was  not  unwilling  to  let  them  see  the 
extreme  measures  which  would  be  forced  upon  them,  if  they  did  not 
give  their  support  to  his  moderate  reforms. 


348 


LIVES    OF   THE 


Minority 
of  thirty 
three, 


5 


chap.     Parliament  to  make  their  recommendation  a  law  of  t 
— ^ — -  realm.* 

Parke**       These   proposals  were   evidently  made  to  sound  th 
ir>o9-75.    Convocation,  and  to  ascertain  wliether  Church  principl 
were  still  recognised  by  the  episcopal  bench   and  t 
majority  of  the  other  clergy.     It  is  satisfactory  to  kno 
that  the  Bishop  of  Worcester  was  supported  by  not  on 
of  his  right  reverend  brethren. 

In  the  Lower  House  the  party  was  more  determined, 
and  a  schedule  was  introduced,  signed  by  thirty-three 
members.  It  contained  seven  articles,  directly  pointed 
against  the  Catholic  customs  and  primitive  principles  of 
the  Church.  They  first  denounced  all  scientific  music 
together  with  the  use  of  the  organ  in  divine  service 
requiring  the  psalms  to  be  sung  by  the  whole  congrega- 
tion, or  to  be  said  by  the  minister  alone.  As  in  the  case 
of  the  bishop,  with  a  strange  inconsistency,  the  party 
which  did  not  believe  that  any  special  grace  is  imparted 
to  a  minister  when  he  is  ordained,  declaimed  against 
lay  baptism,  and,  with  less  inconsistency,  against  the  use 
of  the  cross  in  the  administration  of  that  Sacrament. 
As  regards  the  Eucharist,  they  would  leave  it  to  the  ordi- 
nary to  decide  whether  the  communicant  should  receive 
kneeling ;  and  they  were  particularly  opposed  to  such 
actions,  almost  universally  prevalent,  as  smiting  upon  the 
breast.  Our  blessed  Lord  seems  to  have  commended  the 
poor  publican  for  doing  so,  but  the  action  may  have  been, 
even  at  that  time,  offensive  to  the  Pharisees.  Copes  and 
surplices  were  to  be  discarded ;  and  the  clergy  were 
discharged  from  wearing,  in  common  use,  such  gowns 
and   caps   as   had   been  worn   from   time   immemorial, 

*  For  an  account  of  the  Committee,  see  Strype's  Annals,  I.  i.  470  ; 
Cone.  Mag.  Brit.  iv.  239 ;  Collier,  vi.  371  \  Synodus  4-nglicana  j 
and  Joyce's  English  Synods,  p.  363,  et  §eq. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  349 

on  the  ground  that  they  were  still  worn  by  the  Koman     chap. 
priesthood.  > — r- — • 

Festivals  and  saints'  days  were  to  be  discontinued.  The  Parker. 
34th  Article  gave  to  these  dissenters  extreme  annoyance ;  1559-75. 
for,  although  it  declared,  what  no  Catholic  could  deny,  that 
it  is  not  necessary  that  traditions  and  ceremonies  should 
be  in  all  places  one  and  utterly  alike,  it  adds  that,  "  who- 
soever, through  his  private  judgment,  willingly  and 
purposely  doth  openly  break  the  traditions  and  ceremonies 
of  the  Church  .  .  .  ought  to  be  openly  rebuked." 

Enough  has  been  here  advanced  to  show  how  perilous 
the  times  were ;  and  this  will  strike  us  the  more  strongly 
when  we  remark,  that  the  schedule  containing  these  pro- 
posals, reduced  to  six  heads  or  articles,  was  signed  by 
thirteen  archdeacons,  a  provost,  and  five  deans.    Although 
the    number    of    assailants    amounted    to    thirty-three, 
there  were  among  them  only  fourteen  proctors.     The  church 
Church  was  saved  by  a  majority  consisting  of  the  repre-  JS*^ 
sentatives  of  the  parochial   clergy,   who   were    Anglo-  Catholics. 
Catholics — men  not  hostile  to  a  reformation,  who,  after  a 
time,  accepted  the  title  of  Protestant  to  distinguish  them 
from  Puritans,  but  were  as  far  removed  from  Calvinism  as 
was  possible. 

The  debate  began  on  the  13th  of  February,  when  a 
warm  discussion  arose ;  but  in  the  end  it  was  found  that 
a  decided  majority,  being  Anglo-Catholics,  gave  an  indis- 
putable though  silent  support  to  the  archbishop,  and  reso- 
lutely refused  to  tamper  any  further  with  the  offices  of  the 
Church :  Even  among  the  minority  some  Church  feeling 
displayed  itself,  as  might  be  expected.  The  reader  will 
remember  what  has  been  remarked  before,  that  among 
the  Puritans  there  was  a  division ;  there  were  some  who 
believed  in  the  doctrine  of  Episcopacy,  and  on  that  ac- 
count conformed,  to  the  great  disgust  of  the  rest  of  the 


350 


LIVES  OF  THE 


CHAP 
XL 


Matthew 

Parker. 


i 

>er 


party.  These  now  were  1  rue  to  their  principles;  or  rati 
we  may  say,  their  conduct  on  this  occasion  shows  the  jip 
lice  of  the  distinction  made  ;  for  they,  while  approving 

\ood-7o.  suggestions  of  Bishop  Sandys  and  his  abettors,  suggestec 
that  the  matter  in  dispute  should  be  relegated  to  tin 
judgment  of  the  bishops. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  convert  the  Articles,  by  then 
elongation,  into  a  Confession  of  Faith  ;  the  minority  being 
still  resolute  in  their  determination,  if  possible,  to  destroy 
the  Church  by  sectarianizing  it.     In  the  fourth  session 
Convocation,  the  prolocutor  appeared  before  the  Uppc 
House  with  the  report  of  a  committee  which  propose( 
the  reconstruction  of  the  Forty-two  Articles  of  a  formei 
reign.     It  was  proposed  to  effect   this  by  a  joint  com- 
mittee of  the  two  Houses,  whose  report  was  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  consideration  of  the  whole  Convocation. 

The  archbishop  perceived,  that  their  real  object  was  t< 
convert   the  Articles,  intended   merely    to   control   th< 
preachers  within  certain  limits,  into  a  Confession  of  Faith, 
winch  was  to  be  obligatory  upon  every  member  of  the 
Church  ;  he  must  also  have  felt  the  more  indignant  be- 
cause this  was  an  attempt,  as  by  a  side  wind,  to  obliterate 
his  authority.     With  great  calmness  and  dignity  he  ad- 
ministered a  reproof:  he  pointed  out  to  the  prolocutoi 
the  irregularity  of  these  proceedings  ;  he  informed  him  thai 
the  subject  had  already  been  brought  before  the  Upper 
House,  and  he  promised  that,  at  a  fitting  time,  the  deci- 
sion of  their  lordships  should  be  communicated  to   tin 
proctors  and  others  of  the  Lower  House. 

The  archbishop  laid  his  draft  of  the  Articles  before  his 
suffragans ;  and  on  the  next  day  a  discussion  upon  the  subject 
began.  The  whole  matter  wTas  carefully  considered,  the 
bishops  sometimes,  according  to  their  convenience,  meeting 
in  Henry  VII.'s  Chapel,  at   other  times  in  the  Chapter 


! 

?r 

H 

■ 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   (JAXTERLUIIY*  ool 

[ouse  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.     A  correspondence  was     chap. 
entered  into  with  the  Archbishop  of  the  Northern  Pro-  -— ^ — - 
vince  ;  and  on  the  29th  of  January,  the  Thirty-nine  Arti-    Parked 
cles,  as  they  have  ever  since  been  called,  were  unanimously    1559-70. 
accepted,  and  to  the  document  which  contained  them  Accept- 
the  episcopal  signatures  were  attached ;  the  Archbishop  theThirty- 
of  York  and  some  of  his  suffragans  being  included  among  ArtLies. 
the  signitaries.     The  latter  circumstance  gives   to   this 
Convocation  the  character  of  a  national  synod.* 

The  Articles  were  immediately  transmitted  to  the 
Lower  House,  where  it  would  appear  that  there  was 
not  the  same  willingness  to  subscribe  as  had  been  dis- 
played in  the  Upper  House.  When  a  legal  case  is  re- 
ferred, and  the  referee  in  his  decision  gives  satisfaction  to 
neither  party,  it  is  said  to  be  a  sign  that  his  judgment  is 
impartial  and  just.  We  may  presume  on  the  impartiality 
with  which  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  were  drawn  up,  when 
we  find  that  they  were  entirely  acceptable  to  none  of 
the  parties  into  which  the  Church  was  split.  Their  sole 
object  was  to  place  restraint  upon  those  who  had  no  wish 
to  be  restrained.  The  Puritans  were  especially  offended. 
The  document  containing  the  Articles  was  returned  to 
the  Upper  House  on  the  5th  of  February,  with  only  one 
hundred  names  attached  to  it.  It  was  accompanied  with 
a  request  that  every  member  of  the  House  should  be  re- 
quired to  subscribe  it, — a  request  which  seems  to  show 
that  some  coercion  or  moral  persuasion  was  necessary.f 

•  Synod.  Anglic.  201.  Cardwell's  Synodalia,  i.  oG.  These,  together 
with  Wilkins's  vol.  iv.,  are  the  chief  authorities  for  the  history  of  this 
important  synod.  See  also  Joyce's  Hist,  of  English  Synods,  and  his 
Valuable  notes. 

f  The  document,  with  the  signatures  of  both  Houses  of  Convocation, 
was  ordered  to  be  left  in  the  custody  of  the.  president  of  the  Convoca- 
tion, and  by  him  was  bequeathed  to  C.  C.  C.  C,  where  it  may  be  seen. 


LIVES   OF   THi: 

chap.     A  larger  list  of  subscribers  was  on  the  next  day 
, — -,_-  sented  to  the  archbishop.     Even  after  this  there  was  a 
Parker,     delay ;   and  the  ratification  of  the  Articles   under   the 
1 0.39-75.    Great  Seal  did  not  take  place  till  three  years  afterwards, 
that  is  to  say,  they  were  not  received  by  the  laity.     The 
readiness  of  the  Upper  House  to  sign,  proved  that  the 
bishops  were  aware  that  something  must  be  done  to  re- 
strain the  licence  of  preachers ;  the  slowness  of  the  Lower 
.     House  to  accept  the  Articles,  evinced  on  their  part  an 
unwillingness  to  sacrifice  their  liberty. 

What  a  synod  has  enacted,  a  synod  may  repeal ;  and 
the  question  may  still  be  mooted,  whether  the  Articles 
are  any  longer  necessary,  or,  if  necessary,  whether  these 
Thirty-nine  ought  not  to  be  amended.  Admirably  adapted 
they  were  in  meeting  the  controversies  of  the  sixteenth 
century  ;  but  other  Articles,  if  Articles  are  required, 
should  be  made  to  meet  the  heresies  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

The  draft  of  the  Articles,  as  submitted  to  the  Upper 
House  of  Convocation  by  the  primate,  had  been  slightly 
altered  by  his  suffragans — the  alterations,  indeed,  were  so 
slight,  that  we  may  presume  that  they  were  simply  in- 
tended to  assert  their  right  to  correct  the  work  of  the 
metropolitan  before  they  finally  adopted  it.  These  alter- 
ations may  be  seen  in  Cardwell's  "  Synodalia." 

Into  the  controversy  respecting  the  clause  in  the  20th 
Article,  we  are  not  in  this  place  called  upon  to  enter ; 
"  The  Church  hath  power  to  decree  rites  and  ceremonies, 
and  authority  in  controversies  of  faith."  When  a  contro- 
versy arose  upon  the  subject  in  a  subsequent  age,  it  is 
difficult  to  understand  the  object  of  those  who  would  ab- 
scind this  Article,  or  a  portion  of  it ;  for  that  portion  of  the 
disputed  Article  which  relates  to  rites  and  ceremonies  is 
sufficiently  expressed  in  the  34th  Article.  But  the  Articles^ 


chism. 


ARCHBISH0P3   OF   CANTERBURY.  ■       353 


although  a  few  years  afterwards  attached  to  the  Church    chap. 
of  England,  are  no  more  part  of  the  Church  of  England  ' — *- — ' 

Matthew 

than  the  limpet  which  clings  to  the  rock  is  the  rock  itself.     Parker. 
The  Church  of  England  existed  hundreds  of  years  before    *wo-7«, 
the  Articles  were  drawn  up,  and  in  her  reformation  ap- 
pealed to  no  articles  of  mere  human  authority,  but  to  the 
Bible  and  the  primitive  Church. 

At  this  Convocation  Nowell's  catechisms  were  intro-  The  Cate- 
duced.  Strype  says  that  No  well  undertook  to  compose 
the  catechisms  on  the  advice  of  Sir  William  Cecil,  but, 
as  Dr.  Cardwell  observes,  the  letter  on  which  Strype 
relies  for  this  assertion  does  not,  by  any  means,  support 
the  assertion.*  There  is,  however,  no  doubt  that  Dean 
Nowell  endeavoured  to  enlist  Sir  William  Cecil  on  his 
side ;  and  in  the  letter  to  that  statesman,  referred  to  by 
Strype,  the  dean  stated,  that  it  was  "  a  ground  of  com- 
plaint to  persons  beyond  the  seas,"  that  the  Church  of 
England  had  no  system  of  doctrine.  "  The  opinion," 
wrote  Nowell,  "  beyond  the  seas  was,  that  nothing  touch- 
ing religion  was  with  any  authority  or  consent  of  any 
number  of  the  learned  here  in  our  country  taught  and 
set  forth  ;  but  that  a  few  private  persons  taught  and  wrote 
opinions  without  the  approbation  of  any  authority  at  all." 
What  Nowell  condemned  as  a  defect  we  now  admire  as 
an  advantage. 

It  is  probable  that  Cecil  consulted  the  archbishop  on 
the  subject ;  it  is  certain  that  the  minister  was  not  per- 
suaded by  Nowell  to  rob  the  Church  of  its  liberty,  or  to 
bind  it  by  the  trammels  of  a  sect.  Cecil  was  too  acute 
not  to  be  able  to  distinguish  between  a  "  Catechismus 
Puerorum  "  and  a  confession  of  faith  professing  to  explain 
"  the  whole  counsel  of  God."     Parker  had  taught  him 

*  Strype'a  Annals,  I.  i.  525  ;  Cardwell's  Documentary  Annals,  i.  300. 
VOL.  IX.  A  A 


354  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,     that  the  tradition  of  the  primitive  Church,  tested  by  t 
_XI-  _,  Bible,  was  sufficient  for  members  of  a  Catholic  Church; 
ParkerT    an(l  ^ tne  Church  of  Eome,  in  Pope  Pius's  Catechism,  or 
1559-75.    the  Church  of  England,  in  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  fet- 
tered their  teachers  on  certain  disputed  points,  this  did 
not  interfere  with  our  general  liberty,  and  was  only  a 
temporary  arrangement. 

Archbishop  Parker  respected  Nowell  as  a  man,  and 
probably  expected  to  win  him,  like  Jewel,  to  his  pur- 
poses ;  at  the  same  time,  he  exerted  his  influence  silently 
but  effectually  to  prevent  his  larger  catechism  from  ob- 
taining synodical  authorization.  Nowell  boasted  that  his 
greater  catechism  had  been  favourably  received  by  the 
members  of  Convocation,  many  of  whom  "  altered  it  and 
underlined  it  with  their  remarks."  He  evidently  alluded 
to  the  minority  of  thirty- three  ;  but  they  only  acted  in  their 
private  capacity,  or  as  men  in  debate  before  a  decision 
was  arrived  at ;  for  he  admits  and  laments  that  he  failed 
to  obtain  the  authoritative  sanction  of  the  synod.* 

Owing  to  the  destruction  of-  the  registers  of  the  Convo- 
cation, we  find  it  difficult  to  give  a  history  of  NowelTs 
catechism  :  we  may  be  satisfied  with  expressing  our  deep 
sense  of  gratitude  to  the  Merciful  Providence  which  has 
exonerated  us  from  a  burden  which  it  would  have  been 
difficult  to  sustain ;  for  certainly  the  Church  in  its  corpo- 
rate capacity  has  no  concern  with  the  document.  The 
larger  catechism  did  not  pass  the  two  Houses  in  1562-3. 
It  was  not  published  till  1570,  and  then,  although  ac- 
cepted by  the  Lower  House  of  Convocation,  it  did  not 
pass  the  Upper  House.f  Of  its  failure  no  doubt  can  be 
entertained.     One  strong  party  in  the  country  was  always 

*  Burghley  MSS.  vii.  9.     See  also  Churton's  Life  of  Nowell. 

|  Sy nodus  Anglicana,  215.     It  was  never  sanctioned  by  the  queei 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF  CANTERBURY.  355 

contending  that  it  had  synodical  authority  ;  but  by  their    chap. 
opponents  they  were  dared  to  the  proof.     The  catechism  . — ^ — * 
is  so  completely  forgotten  now,  that  among  well-informed    p^LrT 
divines  it  is  scarcely  known  that  it  ever  had  existence ;  a    1559-75. 
circumstance  which  would  have  been  impossible  if  it  had 
ever  been  adopted  as  a  regular  formulary  of  the  Church. 

Parker's  conduct  in  the  affair  shows,  that  he  could 
hardly  determine  how  to  proceed.  The  case  was  per- 
plexing in  the  absence  of  precedent ;  and  the  expression 
of  the  grounds  of  his  hesitation  to  sanction  it  would  have 
been  impolitic  and  inexpedient.  It  was  suppressed,  how- 
ever, till  1570,  when  it  was  published  with  a  dedication 
to  the  archbishop — a  concession  which  satisfied  Nowell, 
and  yet  did  not  commit  the  Church. 

It  was  Parker's  policy,  in  this  Convocation,  to  encourage  Freedom 
a  freedom  of  speech,  so  that  our  rulers  in  Church  arid  encmi?11 
State  might  become  acquainted  with  the  requirements  of  ased- 
the  Church  and  the  wants  of  the  clergy ;  but,  at  the  same 
time,  he  exerted  himself  to  prevent  legislation. 

In  addition  to  the  matters  already  mentioned,  the  un- 
satisfactory state  of  the  temporalities  of  the  Church  was 
taken  into  consideration,  and  inquiries  were  instituted,  of 
an  important  character,  upon  the  regulation  of  parishes. 
One  measure  was  introduced  with  the  object  of  regulating 
the  leases  both  of  bishops  and  of  deans  and  chapters. 
Another  Bill  was  brought  in  to  regulate  dilapidations  ; 
another,  that  due  inquiry  should  be  made  into  the  fitness 
of  candidates  who  applied  for  confirmation.  In  the  Upper  Tempo- 
House,  the  metropolitan  urged  his  suffragans  to  be  very 
circumspect  in  their  choice  of  Scripture-readers — or  lay 
helps,  if  we  may  give  a  modern  designation  to  those  who 
discharged  the  duties  implied'  in  that  title.  He  was  par- 
ticular also  in  warning  them  against  admitting  to  the 
diaconate  those  who  continued  to  support  their  families 

A  A  2 


tion 


356  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,    by  remaining  in  trade.     Literates  were,  of  necessity,  or- 

—  XtL  .*  dained  when  candidates  from  the  Universities  did  not 

darken    present  themselves.    It  was  ordered  that  no  deacon  should 

1559-75.    undertake  an  occupation  for  gain,  who  was  provided  with 

an  income  amounting  to  twenty  nobles.     This  was  simply 

an  agreement  among  the  bishops  ;  for  it  is  true,  speaking 

generally,  that  at  this  Convocation  no  canons  were  passed.* 

Parker's         On  the  14th  of  April  the  synod  broke  up,  to  the  evident 

Convoca-     relief  of  Parker's  mind.     What  his  feelings  were  on  the 

subject  is  revealed  to  us  in  a  letter  to  Sir  William  Cecil, 

preserved  among  the  archbishop's  manuscripts.     It  was 

written  on  the  very  day  on  which  he  was  released  from 

his  duties  as  president  of  the  Convocation ;  and  after  a 

conversation  with   the   secretary  on  the  results  of  the 

synod.     "  In  consideration,"  he  writes,  "  of  yesternight's 

talk,  calling  to  remembrance  what  the  qualities  of  all  my 

brethren  be  in  reference  of  our  Convocation  societies,  I 

see  some  of  them  to  be  pleni  rimarum,  hac  atque  iliac 

effluunt,  although  indeed  the  queen's  majesty  may  have 

good  cause  to  be  well  contented  with  her  choice  of  most 

of   them,   very  few  excepted,   amongst  whom  I  count 

myself.     And  furthermore,  though  we  have  done  among 

ourselves  little  in  our  own  cause,  yet  I  assure  you  o 

mutual  conferences  have  taught  us  such  experiences,  tha 

I  trust  we  shall  all  be  the  better  in  governance  for  here 

after.     And   when   the   queen's  highness  doth  note   me 

to  be  too  soft  and  easy,  I  think  divers  of  my  brethren  will 

rather  note  me,  if  they  were  asked,  too  sharp  and  to< 

earnest  in  moderation,  which  towards  them  I  have  use 

and  will  still  do,  till  mediocrity  shall  be  received  amongs 

us.     Though  towards  them  qui  /oris  sunt  I  cannot  bu 


*  Strype's  Annals,  I.  i.  508-512,  520,  521.     Grindal,  p.  100, 
Burnet,  in.  i.  365.    Wake,  p.  603. 


tat 

B- 

ie 
ill 

! 

ist 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  357 

show  civil  affability,  and  yet,  I  trust,  inclining  to  no  great     chap. 
cowardness,  to  suffer  wilful  heads  to  escape  too  easily.  « — r- — - 

o    7   •   ,  j)  ik.  Matthew 

bed  ista  parerga.    *  Parker. 

This  letter  is  valuable,  as  throwing  light  on  our  great  1559-75. 
reformer's  character.  It  reveals  to  us  the  principle  which  pastoraiof 
Parker  adopted  for  the  direction  of  his  conduct ;  a  prin-  ^suffra- 
ciple  from  which,  unfortunately  for  himself  and  the  Church,  sans- 
he  was  too  often  led  to  deviate,  from  that  desire  to  please 
all  parties,  which  was  sure  in  the  end  to  give  satisfaction 
to  none.  The  letter  also  shows  that  the  late  synod  was 
regarded  as  having  ended  favourably  to  the  Anglo- 
Catholics — the  men  of  peace  as  they  then  were — as  was 
really  the  fact,  the  Puritans  having  been  foiled  in  almost 
all  their  attempts  to  introduce  their  peculiarities.  Parker 
did  not  desire  a  triumph  for  either  party ;  his  ambition 
was  to  unite  the  two  great  parties — the  Anglo-Catholics 
and  the  Puritans — in  one  great  school  of  thought.  Under 
these  circumstances  he  determined  to  address  a  pastoral 
to  his  suffragans,  now  returning  to  their  dioceses,  and  he 
submitted  the  draft  to  the  supervision  of  his  friend  Sir 
William  Cecil.  The  draft  is  in  the  latter  part  so  altered 
and  interlined,  that  it  is  difficult  to  make  out  its  exact 
meaning.  In  the  letter  eventually  sent  by  the  archbishop 
to  his  suffragans,  the  subject  is  brought  clearly  to  light. 
After  the  usual  formalities  in  the  address,  the  arch- 
bishop thus  proceeds :  "  This  is  upon  good  and  deli- 
berate considerations  to  require  you,  as  also  upon  your 
obedience  to  charge,  to  have  a  grave,  prudent,  and  godly 
respect  in  executing  the  Act  of  the  establishment  of  the 
queen's  authority  over  her  ecclesiastical  subjects,  late 
passed  in  parliament."  We  here  see  his  tenderness 
towards  the  Catholics,  or  the  great  body  of  conformists, 

*  Corresp..  p.  173. 


358  LIVES   OF  THE 

chap,  especially  among  the  clergy.  Through  the  obstinacy 
^— -r- — -  Archbishop  Heath,  and  the  prelates  acting  with  him,  the 
Parker!  present  bishops  had  been,  of  necessity,  chosen  from  among 
1559-75.  the  Puritans;  and  though  their  conformity  implied  the 
renunciation  of  some  of  the  worst  features  of  Puritanism, 
the  archbishop  evidently  feared  lest,  in  the  intolerant 
spirit  of  the  age,  the  bishops  being  invested  with 
power,  should  so  exercise  it  as  to  attempt  to  crush 
instead  of  seek  to  conciliate  that  party  in  the  Church, 
which,  though  consisting  of  conformists,  were  more  op- 
posed to  Geneva  than  to  Borne.  The  oath  of  supremacy 
might  be,  at  any  time,  insisted  upon ;  but  the  policy  of 
the  archbishop  and  of  the  government,  at  this  time,  was 
not  to  press  it  upon  those  of  the  clergy  who,  disliking  the 
oath,  still  remained  in  their  cures,  discharging  in  a  meek 
and  quiet  spirit  the  duties  of  their  calling.  4;  If  upon  any 
very  apparent  cause,"  proceeds  the  archbishop,  implying 
inaction  and  charitable  allowance  where  such  cause  did 
not  exist,  "your  lordship  shall  be,  as  it  were  compelled, 
for  the  wilfulness  of  some  of  that  sort,  to  tender  the  oath 
mentioned  in  the  Act,  the  peremptory  refusal  whereof 
shall  endanger  them  in  pra3immire,  that  immediately  upon 
such  refusal  of  any  person,  ye  do  address  your  letters  to 
me,  expressing  the  disorders  of  such  a  one  who  is  fallen 
into  such  danger,  and  ye  proceed  not  to  offer  the  said 
oath  a  second  time,  until  your  lordship  shall  have  my 
answer  returned  to  you  in  writing."  He  entreated  his 
brethren  not  to  misinterpret  his  intentions,  or  to  regard 
him  as  the  patron  of  a  party,  in  which  he  admitted  there 
were  many  who  "  bore  a  perverse  stomach  to  the  purity 
of  Christ's  religion  ;  "  but  to  regard  him  in  this  respect  as 
only  exhibiting  "  a  pastoral  care  which  must  appear  in 
us  which  be  heads  of  the  flock,  not  to  follow  our  own 
private  affections  and  heats,  but  to  provide  coram  Deo 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF  CANTERBURY.  359 

et  hominibus,  for  saving  and  winning  of  others  if  it  may     chap. 


be  so  obtained."*  » — ^ — - 

We  may  be  permitted  here  to  renew  our  remark,  that  pLkeT 
these  letters  and  the  proceedings  of  the  government,  at  1559-75. 
this  time,  are  sufficient  to  show  the  error — leading  some- 
times to  erroneous  judgments  in  courts  of  law — of  which 
they  are  guilty  who  represent  the  Protestant  party  as  in 
the  ascendant.  They  formed  a  minority,  but  a  minority 
armed  with  power.  An  application  from  Bishop  Jewel 
to  the  primate,  whom  he  calls  the  "  sacra  anchora  "  to 
himself  and  others,  for  advice  under  a  special  circum- 
stance, is  interesting,  as  showing  that  it  was  clearly  under- 
stood, that  the  Church  being  the  same,  after  as  well  as 
before  its  reformation  had  begun,  the  laws  were  of 
necessity  the  same  unless  specially  repealed,  or  by  subse- 
quent legislation  rendered  obsolete.  The  Bishop  of  Salis- 
bury, John  Jewel,  writes  thus :  "  The  bearer  hereof  will 
exhibit  to  your  grace  a  Eoman  dispensation  under  lead  for 
one  Harvee,  prebendary  of  my  church.  I  beseech  your 
grace  advertize  me  whether  it  will  stand  good  in  law  or  no, 
and  whether  the  party  may  enjoy  it,  not  having  or  using 
priestly  apparel,  but  in  all  respects,  going  as  a  serving 
man  or  no."  What  is  more  remarkable  is,  that  from  this 
letter  we  learn  that  the  controversy  still  existing,  on  mar- 
riage with  a  deceased  wife's  sister,  engaged  attention  in 
the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  was  a  subject  upon 
which  our  reformers  had  no  very  decided  opinion.  The 
bishop  continues  :  "  Chafin  that  hath  married  two  sisters, 
upon  his  appeal  from  your  grace  and  me,  hangeth  still 
upon  the  delegators,  and,  as  much  as  I  can  perceive,  is 
not  likely  to  have  any  great  hurt  at  their  hands.  1  zooidd 
they  would  decree  it  were  lawful  to  marry  two  sisters,  so 
would  the  world  be  out  of  doubt. ." 

*  Corresp.  p.  174. 


I 


360  lives  of  Tin: 

CHAP.         From  this  time  and  for  several  years  the  Church 
« — r-^— -  tinued  to  be  governed  by  the  archbishop,  whose 
Parker   rogatives  as  primate  seem  not  to  have  been  called  into 
1659-75.   question  or   disputed.     Convocation   met  several  times, 
but  little  business  of  an  ecclesiastical  character  was  trans- 
acted.    The  Convocations  were  duly  assembled,  but  wer 
chiefly  employed  in  granting  subsidies  to  the  crown. 
Convooa-         When  the  career  of  Parker  was  drawing  to  a  close,  a 
wi?*       w^sn  prevailed,  and  to  this  he  acceded,  that  a  Convocation 
should  be  held  for  the  despatch  of  business  ;  and  an  im- 
portant one  took  place  in  1571.     On  this  occasion  the 
sermon  was  preached  by  no  less  a  person  than  Whitgift ; 
and  Aylmer,  at  that  time  Archdeacon  of  Lincoln,  was 
chosen  prolocutor.     Hitherto  the  bishops,  acting  under 
the  connivance  of  the  primate,  had  been  lax  in  requiring 
subscription  to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  to  which,  at  first, 
the  Puritans  were  quite  as  much  opposed  as  the  Anglo- 
,  Catholics.     But  the  papists  from  abroad,  and  those  among 

the  Eegulars  who  had,  clandestinely  or  through  the  con- 
nivance of  the  government,  retained  their  chaplaincies 
in  the  private  chapels  of  certain  members  of  the  English 
aristocracy,  were  now  plotting  to  disturb  the  peace  of 
the  realm,  and  although  the  majority  of  the  Anglo- 
Catholics  had  been  Protestantized,  some  of  the  older 
of  the  clergy  were  suspected  of  a  secret  inclination  to 
listen  to  foreign  and  disloval  councils.  At  this  Convoca- 
tion,  therefore,  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  were  read,  con- 
firmed, and  signed  by  both  Houses  ;  and  every  bishop 
was  supplied  with  a  sufficient  number  to  take  down  into 
their  respective  dioceses,  there  to  obtain  the  signatures  of 
the  clergy — of  the  clergy  alone,  because  the  Articles  were 
intended,  not  as  an  exposition  of  doctrine  to  the  Church 
at  large,  but  as  a  direction  to  the  clergy  only.  No  clergy- 
man was  to  be  licensed  as  a  preacher  by  his  bishop  until 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  361 

he  had  subscribed  to  the  Articles.     So  unpopular,  how-     chap. 

ever,  were  the  Articles,  and  this  whole  proceeding,  that  . -^ , 

by  some  writers,  the  year  1571  is  termed  the  woful  year  of  ^rkS* 
Subscription.  1559-75. 

In  the  Upper  House  of  Convocation  of  1571,  under 
Parker's  direction,  a  book  of  canons  was  arranged 
and  settled  under  the  following  title :  Liber  quorundam 
Canonum  discipline  Ecclesioe  Anglicance,  but  for  some 
cause  or  other,  not  explained,  it  was  not  laid  before  the 
Lower  House.  These  canons  were  observed,  however, 
by  the  bishops  in  the  management  of  their  several 
dioceses ;  and  no  objection  was  raised  against  them  on  the 
ground  of  any  want  of  authority — the  ancient  tradition 
of  episcopal  authority  still  prevailing.  The  queen  espe- 
cially stated,  that  she  regarded  the  authority  of  the  bishops 
as  sufficient,  and  considered  that  the  Lower  House  was 
included  in  the  decisions  of  the  Upper.*  That  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  while  chaining  the  clergy,  or  not 
permitting  them  to  move  beyond  a  certain  tether,  were 
not  regarded  as  obligatory  upon  the  English  Church, 
is  sufficiently  apparent  from  the  fact,  that  the  very  same 
Convocation  which  required  clerical  subscription  to  the 
Articles,  declared,  under  the  head  De  Concionatoribus, 
that  nothing  was  to  be  taught  as  matter  of  faith  religiously 
to  be  observed  but  that  which  was  agreeable  to  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  and  collected  out  of  the  same  Cathoii- 
doctrine — not  by  the  reformers,  but  by  the  ancient  fathers  English 
and  Catholic  bishops  of  the  Church. 

This  was  a  concession  made  to  the  archbishop  and  to  the 
English  reformers  generally,  for  they  had  been  subjected 
to  some  mortifications  by  the  determined  opposition  still 
shown  against  Church  principles,  by  a  powerful  minority 
in  the  Lower  House. 

*  Strype,  ii.  60. 


362  LIVES   OP   THE 

chap.         It  will  be  remembered,  that  in  the  reign  of  Hem 

« — -r^ — •  VIII.  a  committee  had  been  appointed  to   reform  the 

VarkerT    ecclesiastical  law.     Until  this  committee  should  complet( 

1559-75.   its  work,  it  was  enacted  that  the  old  Catholic  canons 

should  continue  to  be,  as  they  had  long  been,  and  still 

are,  the  canons  of  the  Church  of  England,  provided  that 

they  were  not  contrary  to  the  statutes  of  the  realm  or 

the  prerogatives  of  the  crown. 

These  reformers  of  the  canons  had  completed  their 
work,  or  nearly  so,  when  Edward  VI.  died ;  and  owing  to 
that  event,  it  had  not  been  confirmed  by  parliament  or 
accepted  by  the  crown.  The  subject  was  again  brought 
before  the  parliament  of  1571.  But  the  queen  and  the 
archbishop,  true  to  their  principle  of  not  disconnecting 
the  present  from  the  past,  presented  a  tacit  but  effectual 
opposition  to  the  measure,  and  consequently  for  these 
canons  parliamentary  authority  was  never  obtained.  The 
Church  of  England  is  still  governed  by  the  canons  in  vogue 
during  the  centuries  which  preceded  the  reformation  of 
the  Church ;  and  Archbishop  Tait,  except  where  the 
statute  law  has  interposed,  is  as  much  bound  by  the 
ancient  canons  as  was  Thomas  a  Becket  and  his  successors. 
Convoca-  The  Convocation  of  1572  has  to  us  a  peculiar  interest, 
i572?f  since  to  it  were  addressed  the  last  words  of  Matthew 
Parker. 

This  Convocation  opened  with  the  usual  solemnities 
and  ceremonial ;  the  sermon  was  preached  by  Dr.  Young, 
one  of  the  residentiaries  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  on  the 
9th  of  May ;  the  representatives  of  the  clergy,  the  digni- 
taries of  the  Church,  and  the  law  officers  in  the  arch- 
bishop's courts  being  duly  assembled. 

When  the  Convocation  met  the  next  day  for  business, 
the  Lower  House  was  summoned  into  the  presence  of  his 
grace  the  president,  and  the  heart  must  have  been  hard  . 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  363 

that  remained  unmoved.     The  aged  primate,  unable  to     chap. 
stand,  addressed  the  two  Houses  from  his  seat :  he  sat,  >- — r- — » 
bowed  down  by  a  premature  old  age,  oppressed  with  many     Parked 
infirmities,  and  suffering  under  a  mortal  and  most  painful    1559-75. 
complaint.    However  violently  some  were  opposed  to  him 
on  principle,  yet  he  had  "  borne  his  faculties  meekly  ; " 
and  although,  being  a  man  without  enthusiasm,  he  was 
not  likely  to  enkindle  enthusiastic  feelings  among  his  sup- 
porters, there  were  few  present  who  had  not  experienced 
some  act  of  consideration  or  kindness  at  his  hands ;  or,  if 
they  had  been  subjected  to  the  discipline  of  the  Church, 
administered  by  him,  they  could  not  but  have  felt,  when 
they  looked  back  with  calmness  to  the  past,  that  they 
were  indebted  to  him  for   the   forbearance  which  was 
ever  ready  to  abstain  from  the  unnecessary  annoyance 
of  those  who  set  his  authority  at  defiance,  or  who  even 
refused  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  realm  and  the  canons 
of  the  Church. 

Everyone,  he  said,  must  be  aware  that  he  had  been  Parker's 
commanded  by  the  queen  to  convene,  and  those  whom  he  the  synod. 
addressed  to  attend,  this  synod,  for  the  furtherance  of 
some  salutary  end  and  object  to  the  Church  of  Christ. 
The  assembly  had  been  opened  the  preceding  day  by 
tendering  their  homage  to  the  Majesty  of  Heaven,  and  they 
had  heard  from  a  man  of  piety  and  learning  an  exhor- 
tation replete  with  erudition  and  sound  advice.  Having 
made  such  a  good  beginning,  they  might  fairly  expect 
that  the  rest  of  their  labours  would  be  brought  to  a 
happy  termination.  If  zeal  in  the  propagation  and  pre- 
servation of  Christ's  religion  were  the  duty  of  all  in  their 
several  stations,  he  reminded  the  members  of  the  synod, 
that,  in  consideration  of  their  orders  and  of  the  dignity  of 
their  office,  they  ought  not  only  to  surpass  all  others  in 
their  zeal  and  vigilance,  but  that  they  should  be  prepared, 


364  LIVES  OF  THE 

chap,  if  need  should  be,  to  sacrifice  to  the  great  cause  their  good 
— , — *  name,  their  worldly  goods,  yea,  even  life  itself.  They  were 
Parker,  set  apart  by  the  Lord,  and  warned  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
1559-75.  search  the  deep  things  of  God,  and  to  make  his  will  known 
to  the  people.  They  had  their  ancestors  for  an  example  ; 
not  only  those  who  of  late,  having  investigated  the  truth, 
confirmed  it  by  a  martyr's  death,  but  those  also  in  the 
apostolic  age,  of  whose  piety  and  success  in  this  island  of 
ours  many  memorials  still  remain.  Although  of  their 
works  some  had  been  destroyed  by  Anti-Christ,  and  others 
damaged  by  long  desuetude,  yet  much  had  been  handed 
down  to  the  present  more  enlightened  age  ;  proving  abun- 
dantly that  our  orders  and  the  ceremonies  retained  by  us 
are  in  perfect  accordance  with  their  institutions.  Espe- 
cially dear  to  us  ought  to  be  what  emanated  from  our 
predecessors  in  the  Church  of  England. 

He  then  went  on  to  say,  that  even  if  the  ancient  tra- 
ditions, which  he  so  much  valued,  had  failed,  they  were 
so  fortunate  as  still  to  possess  the  original  Scriptures,  in 
Hebrew  and  Greek,  upon  which  to  fall  back  ;  and  then 
by  quotations  from  St.  Cyprian  and  from  St.  Basil  the 
Great,  he  showed,  that  it  was  the  primitive  custom,  by  a 
reference  to  the  sacred  Scriptures,  to  test  the  traditional 
practices  of  the  Church,  and  to  prevent  them  from  d 
generating  into  superstition. 

He  enlarged  on  the  principles  on  which  the  Beforma 
tion  should  be  conducted  in  England — a  deference  to  tra- 
ditional religion,  all  education  being,  in  fact,  a  tradition 
from  father  to  son — corrected  by  a  reference  to  the  original 
Scriptures  :  so  that  our  religion  does  not  depend  upon  a 
single  book,  though  we  possess  an  inspired  volume,  to  in- 
struct us  when  and  where,  through  the  lapse  of  time  and 
the  wiles  of  Satan,  the  religion  we  have  inherited  has 
degenerated  into  superstition,  as  was  seen  to  be  the  case 


al 

i 


1559-75. 


ARCHBISHOPS  OF   CANTERBURY.  365 

until,  by  the  printing  press,  the  tradition  as  well  as  the      XL 
Scriptures  of  the  Church  had  been  stereotyped.  Matthew' 

Having  laid  before  them  the  principles  of  the  English 
Eeformation,  he  left  it  to  the  members  of  the  Convocation 
and  to  persons  of  greater  leisure  than  he  himself  possessed, 
to  enlarge  upon  them;  and  he  confined  himself  to  the 
business  more  immediately  before  them.    . 

In  order  that  their  debates  might  be  conducted  without 
confusion,  and  that  due  order  might  be  preserved  in  their 
proceedings,  he  should  himself  preside  over  the  Upper 
House ;  and  he  directed,  that  on  the  following  Wednesday, 
the  Lower  House,  having  elected  a  prolocutor,  should 
present  him  to  the  president,  in  order  that  he  might  obtain 
his  grace's  sanction. 

On  the  day  appointed  Dr.  Whitgift  was  elected  prolo- 
cutor. It  was  evident  that  it  had  been  the  intention  of 
the  government,  that  this  Convocation  should  proceed 
to  the  transaction  of  business;  but  some  cause  or  other, 
probably  the  primate's  ill-health,  terminating  in  his  death 
three  years  after,  presented  an  impediment,  and  very  little 
business  of  real  importance  was  accomplished. 


366  LIVES   OF  THE 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

CONTROVERSIES. 

Party  government. — Vestment  controversy. — The  principle  of  Eliza- 
beth's Government. — Reformation  of  an  old  Church,  not  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  Protestant  sect. — Elizabeth's  ecclesiastical  policy. — 
Two-thirds  of  clergy  and  laity  were  Anglo-Catholics. — Concessions 
made  on  both  sides. — Bishop  Gheast's  letter  on  the  Eucharist. — Di- 
versities of  practice. — Bad  taste  of  the  Puritans. — Persecution  of 
Parker. — His  life  threatened. — Mandate  of  the  queen  to  the  primate 
and  his  suffragans  to  enforce  uniformity. — Vacillation  of  the  queen. 
— Earl  of  Leicester ;  his  evil  influence  with  the  queen. — A  profligate 
man  though  the  leader  of  the  Puritans. — Parker's  employment  of  the 
press. — Foreign  theologians  consulted. — Parker's  misunderstanding 
with  the  queen. — Change  of  opinion  in  Jewel  and  others. — The 
attack  nominally  on  vestments,  in  reality  on  Episcopacy. — Puritans 
discovered  Anti-Christ  in  the  Church  of  England. — Royal  Com- 
mission.— Controversy  with  Sampson  and  Humphrys. — Parker's 
generosity  to  his  opponents. — Disturbances  in  London  churches. — 
Eucharist  profaned. — Clergy  in  surplices  mobbed. — Insults  offered  to 
the  archbishop's  chaplains. — Forms  observed  in  celebrating. — London 
clergy  cited  before  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners. — Addressed  by 
the  Chancellor. — Licences  for  preaching  revoked  and  renewed. — 
Papal  privileges  asserted  at  Cambridge. — Parker's  success. — Cha- 
racter of  the  English  Reformation.  —  Peter  Heylin,  Wolfgang 
Musculus. — Establishment  of  Anglo-Romanism  in  opposition  to 
Anglo- Catholicism. — Excommunication  of  Elizabeth  by  the  Pope. — 
Establishment  of  Protestant  Dissent. — Thomas  Cartwright. — Oppo- 
sition to  Episcopacy. — All  Church  principles  denied  seriatim. — 
Romish  dissent  not  formally  established  before  the  time  of  Cardinal 

Wiseman. — Puritan  schism   established  at  Wandsworth Troubles 

towards  the  close  of  Parker's  life. — Parliament   of  1571. — Bitter 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF  CANTERBURY.  367 

feeling  of  the  Puritan  members  against  the  bishops  and  the  Church. — ■ 
Violence  of  Strickland. — Peter  Wentworth. — Precisians. — Brownists. 
— Prophesy  ings. — Earl  of  Sussex. — Visitation  of  the  Isle  of  Wight. — 
Parker  insulted  at  Court. — His  angry  letter. 

It  is  proposed   in  the  present  chapter  to  bring  under    chap. 

XII. 


one  point  of  view,  the  more  prominent  of  those  contro-  *- 

•         •  i  •   i      -n/r       i  t^i  •         i        -,        rm  Matthew 

versies  m  which  Matthew  Parker  was  involved,     lhey    Parker, 
incidentally  throw  light   on   his    character,  as   well   as    15^9-75. 
on  the  history  of  the  age  in  which  he  played  so  dis- 
tinguished a  part. 

The  difficulties  he  had  to  encounter,  or  rather  the 
manner  in  which  they  were  to  be  met,  differed  consider- 
ably from  the  difficulties  and  the  consequent  controversies 
by  which  the  angry  passions  of  modern  polemics  are 
excited  and  the  critical  judgment  of  opposing  parties 
are  called  into  action  at  the  present  time.  By  the 
system  of  party  government,  which  has  gradually  risen  Party 
up  among  us,  the  co-operation  of  independent  thinkers  ment. 
can  now  be  secured ;  and  mutual  concessions  are  found 
to  be  admissible,  without  any  sacrifice  of  that  freedom  of 
mind  in  regard  to  general  principles,  through  which  a 
combination  of  friends  is  distinguishable  from  the  sub- 
mission of  slaves  to  the  will  of  a  superior  whose  object  is 
not  to  lead  but  to  domineer.  We  can  now  understand 
how,  in  selecting  a  leader,  we  make  choice  of  a  primus 
inter  pares,  with  whom  on  all  great  principles  we  agree  ; 
and  to  whom,  in  the  minor  details  necessary  for  the  carry- 
ing out  of  a  great  design,  we  are  willing  to  defer.  We 
only  separate,  when,  in  the  carrying  out  of  our  details  we 
discover  a  difference  in  what  relates  to  a  vital  principle. 

Very  different  was  it  in  Parker's  time  :  at  that  period 
the  sovereign  ruled  as  well  as  reigned;  and  Elizabeth 
was,  in  fact,  her  own  prime  minister.  The  other  ministers 
were  merely  the   heads   of  departments.     Between  the 


368  LIVES   OF  THE 

chap,     heads  of  the  various  departments  there  was  not,  of  ne- 


•*  cessity,  any  union  of  opinion  ;  and,  instead  of  seeking  to 
Parker,  act  together  for  the  good  of  all,  each  minister  thought  only 
1559-75.  of  the  course  to  be  by  him  pursued,  to  win  the  approba- 
tion or  retain  the  confidence  of  the  queen.  The  queen 
herself  was  sometimes  jealous,  lest,  through  a  good  under- 
standing between  her  most  trusted  ministers,  her  own 
power  should  be  overlooked,  and  she  become,  instead  of 
a  dictator,  a  mere  puppet  in  the  hands  of  men  who  owed 
their  official  position  to  her  discernment  or  favour. 

The  difficulties  which  a  minister  had  to  encounter, 
when  called  upon  to  act  under  such  conditions,  were 
so  great  as  to  become  sometimes  insuperable.  When  a 
minister  had  done  his  best,  he  might  be  thwarted  by  a 
favourite,  who,  also  a  minister,  was  known  to  be  seeking, 
not  the  public  good,  but  his  own  aggrandizement.  There 
could  be  no  unity  of  action  between  the  ministers  except 
such  as  arose  from  private  friendship ;  and,  what  was 
worse,  there  was  no  security  of  support  from  the  crown, 
except  when  the  royal  mind  was  awakened  to  a  sense  of 
the  dangers  which  beset  the  state.  On  great  occasions 
and  emergencies,  Elizabeth  had  the  wisdom  to  see  that 
she  must  have  a  master-mind  on  which  to  rely, — and  all 
her  subordinate  ministers  were  therefore  aware,  that  if 
they  desired  to  carry  any  great  measure  within  their  own 
department,  they  would  do  wisely  to  consult  Cecil  before 
approaching  the  queen ;  although  the  queen  would  some- 
times act  in  opposition  even  to  Cecil's  advice,  merely — or 
chiefly — in  the  fear,  that  if  his  advice  were  invariably 
followed,  he  would  become  de  facto  king. 

All  these  things  must  be  taken  into  consideration,  wh 
we  sit  in  judgment  upon  Parker  in  regard  -to  his  admin 
tration  of  ecclesiastical   affairs,  and  to  his  proceedings 
when  conducting  the  reformation  of  his  Church. 


: 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  369 

could  not  do  all  he  wished,  and  he  was,  therefore,  con-     chap. 

"VTT 

tent  to  save  from  the  general  wreck  what  he  could.  ^ — 

The  great  controversy  which  disturbed  the  peace,  and     p^kerT 
distracted  the  mind  of  Parker  during  the  first  years  of    1559-75 
his  episcopate,  related  to  the  vestments  of  the  clergy.  J™^™ 
When  men  are  determined  to  quarrel,  the  devil  will  soon  versy« 
find  a  pretext  for  the  controversy.     Under  evil  influence, 
the  quarrel  has,  of  late  years,  been  revived,  and  Protestant 
associations,  so  called,  are  established  for  the  persecution 
of  those  who  would  retain  the  sacerdotal  vestments.     To 
many  persons,  viewing  the  subject  from  without,  the  con- 
troversy appears  to  be  perfectly  puerile  ;  but,  although  it 
is,  comparatively  speaking,  easy  to  excite  the  malignant 
passions  of  the  ignorant,  whether  in  high  life  or  in  low 
life,  and  although  human,  even  diabolical,  passions  may 
be  misrepresented  as  Christian  zeal,  still  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible that,  under  the  superincumbent  mass  of  puerility, 
an   important   principle   or   a   holy   sentiment   may   lie 
buried. 

Of  the  real  merits  of  the  "  vestiarian  controversy,"  as  it 
existed  in  the  first  years  of  the  Eeformation,  only  a  few 
thoughtful  persons  could  then,  or  can  now,  decide.  The 
impassioned  multitude  might  understand  their  fanatical 
leaders,  when  they  declaimed  against  the  government  for 
disturbing  the  peace  of  society,  by  insisting  that  the 
English  clergy  should  still  retain,  under  certain  modifica- 
tions, those  vestments  in  which  for  several  centuries  the 
clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  had  been  accustomed 
to  officiate.  They  did  not  perceive,  or  they  would  not 
admit,  that  if  folly  there  were,  that  folly  was  not  con- 
fined to  one  party ;  it  was  shared  by  those  who  refused 
obedience  to  the  ecclesiastical  rulers  "  sitting  in  Moses' 
seat,"  and  succeeding  to  the  authority  of  the  Apostles. 
Especially  was  this  the  case  when,  as  in  the  case  under 

VOL.  IX.  B  B 


370 


LIVES   OF   THE 


CHAJP. 
XII. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 

Conces- 
sions not 
to  havo 
regard  to 
one  party 
only. 


Conces- 
sions made 
to  both 
parties. 


consideration,  they  were  acting  in  obedience  to  the  laws 
of  the  land  and  the  requirements  of  the  Church.  The 
ancient  vestments  had,  in  many  respects,  become  incom- 
modious, and  were  open  to  various  objections ;  but  this 
was  not  the  case  with  all.  It  was  determined  by  our 
ecclesiastical  rulers  to  reform,  but  not  to  destroy.  The 
determination  not  to  destroy  was  consistent  with  the 
resolution  at  which  the  queen  and  her  government  had 
arrived,  of  connecting  the  present  with  the  past.  They 
continually  bore  in  mind,  that  they  were  reforming  the 
old  Church,  not  establishing  a  new  sect ;  and  on  this 
principle,  they  so.  ordered  the  Church,  that,  in  small 
things  as  well  as  in  great,  the  people  should  be  reminded 
of  the  fact.  Having  liberated  the  Church  from  the 
tyranny  of  the  Bishop  of  Borne,  Queen  Elizabeth  was  by 
no  means  prepared  to  hold  the  stirrup  to  a  pope  of 
Geneva ;  or,  like  the  Puritans,  to  invest  Calvin  with  the 
pretensions  of  infallibility. 

The  soundness  of  Elizabeth's  policy  may  be  controverted, 
but  if  we  accept  her  scheme  of  reform  as  a  dictate  of 
wisdom,  we  are  not  justified  in  blaming  the  queen  for  not 
yielding  to  the  Puritans ;  when,  in  opposing  details,  they 
were  consciously  aiming  a  blow  at  her  known  principle  of 
action.  What  was  theoretically  right  or  wrong  she  left  it 
to  her  clergy  to  discuss  and  determine  ;  what  she,  as  the 
ruler  of  the  nation,  had  to  do,  when  a  determination  had 
been  arrived  at  by  the  hierarchy,  by  the  Convocation,  and 
by  the  parliament,  was  to  compel  her  subjects  to  obey  the 
law  :  obedience  she  required,  because  she  desired  to  pro- 
mote the  peace  of  the  country.  In  order  to  effect  this 
object,  she  understood  that  concessions  must  be  made  : 
but  they  were  to  be  made  not  to  one  party  only  ;  for  she 
was  perfectly  aware,  that  if  there  was  a  powerful  minority 
among  her  subjects  who  thought  that  she  had  not  gone, 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  371 

in  the  work  of  reformation,  far  enough,  there  was  another     chap. 
party  which,  if  not  so  deeply  read,  was  certainly  more   —  ,.v  — * 
numerous,  whose  opinion  was,  that  she  had  gone  too  far.    VarkeT 
She  could  not  forget  the  re-action  which  had  followed  the    1559-75. 
Puritan   excesses  in  the  reign   of  her  brother;    neither 
could  she  conceal  from  herself  the  fact,  that  among  the 
majority  who  enjoyed  the  benefices  of  the  Church,  there 
were  not  a  few  who  might,  if  provoked,  be  led  to  give 
their  support  to  the  Queen  of  Scots.     Elizabeth  knew 
full  well,  that  it  was  not  as  the  head  of  a  faction,  whether 
papal  or  puritan,  but  as  the  queen  of  a  great  country, 
that  she  ought  to  present  herself  to  her  people.     The 
opposite  mode  of  proceeding  had  been  the  ruin  of  her 
sister.     By  the  short-sighted  policy  of  the  foreign  powers 
acting  in  the  interests  of  the  Bishop  of  Borne,  Elizabeth 
was  compelled,  against  her  inclinations,  to  win  the  support 
of  the  Puritans  by  making  to  them  large  concessions  ;  but 
these  concessions  must  terminate  somewhere,  and  where 
could  she  better  make  her  stand  than  upon  a  point  which  * 
appeared  to  politicians  to  be  either  childish  or  factious  ? 

The  line  of  policy  which  for  ten  or  twelve  years,  in  a  Elizabeth'* 
controversial  age,  prevented  a  rupture  between  Church  !^Cy# 
and  state,  if  not  always  to  be  approved,  is  surely  not  to 
be  contemned.  It  is  observed  by  JSTeal,  the  Puritan  his- 
torian, that  "  the  services  performed  in  the  queen's 
chapel  and  in  sundry  cathedrals  were  so  splendid  and 
showy,  that  foreigners  could  not  distinguish  it  from  the 
Boman,  except  that  it  was  performed  in  the  English 
tongue."  He  says,  that  "  by  this  method  most  of  the 
popish  laity  were  deceived  into  conformity  and  came 
regularly  to  church  for  nine  or  ten  years,  till  the  pope, 
being  out  of  all  hopes  of  an  accommodation,  forbad  them, 
by  excommunicating  the  queen  and  laying  the  whole 
nation  under  an  interdict."     In  this  passage  we  have  an 

BB  2 


372  LIVES   OF  THE 

chap,  instance  of  the  manner  in  which  a  party  historian,  by 
— _-  giving  to  his  statements  a  false  colouring,  and  by  using 
Parker,  consciously  an  incorrect  term,  can  leave  an  erroneous 
1559-75.  impression  upon  the  reader's  mind,  and  lead  him  blind- 
folded into  heresy.  If  Neal  had  spoken  of  the  members  of 
the  Church  as  being  Anglo-Catholic,  thus  distinguishing 
them  from  the  Eomanenses,  Eomanists,  or  Papists,  he 
would  in  his  assertion  have  been  correct.  Upon  the 
conforming  Anglo-Catholics,  the  Bishop  of  Eome,  as  it 
was  the  custom  to  style  the  pope,  could  make  no  im- 
pression ;  and  therefore  it  was,  that  after  a  season  of  qui- 
escence, his  patience  being  exhausted,  he  sent  a  mission  of 
Eomanists  into  the  kingdom.  Soames,  who  quotes  this 
passage,  makes  the  remark,  that  the  parties  whom  the 
Puritan  uncharitably  affirms  were  "  deceived  into  con- 
formity," consisted  of  two-thirds  of  the  nation,  and  pos- 
sessed an  immense  preponderance  of  its  wealth.*  They 
were  Catholics — Anglo-Catholics  ;  they  were  not  papists  ; 
though  it  is  possible  that  they  would  prefer  popery  to 
Puritanism. 

Neal  also  asserts,  that  the  instructions  given  by  the 
queen's  government  to  the  ecclesiastical  commissioners, 
was  "  to  strike  out  all  offensive  passages  against  the  pope, 
and  to  make  people  easy  about  the  corporal  presence." 
The  historian,  in  his  ignorance  or  his  prejudice,  uses  the 
word  corporal,  which  our  reformers  did  not  use,  although 
they  did  speak  of  the  real  presence  of  Our  Blessed 
Lor  in  the  Holy  Sacrament.  He  complains,  that  while 
large  concessions  were' thus  made  to  the  Anglo-Catholics, 
not  a  single  word  was  uttered  in  favour  of  those  Puritans 
whom  he  describes  as  "  the  stricter  Protestants."  "  She 
was  desirous  to  retain,"  he  says,  "  images  in  churches, 
crosses  and  crucifixes,  vocal  and  instrumental  music,  wit] 

*  Elizabethan  History,  p.  9. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY. 


373 


all  the  old  popish  garments.  The  rubric  that  declared, 
that  by  kneeling  at  the  Sacrament  no  adoration  was  in- 
tended to  any  corporal  presence  of  Christ,  was  expunged." 
Such  was  the  Church  of  England  as  our  first  reformers 
left  her,  and  such  she  continued  to  be  in  all  her  broad 
features,  until  the  great  rebel] ion  annihilated  those  an- 
cient traditions  by  which  the  Prayer  Book  could  be  best 
interpreted. 

The  Anglo-Catholics,  out  of  whom  sprang  the  school  of 
divines  of  which  the  judicious  Hooker  is  the  represen- 
tative and  type,  had  submitted  to  much  injustice,  and  in 
spite  of  various  attempts  to  stir  them  up  to  acts  of  sedition 
and  rebellion,  they  remained  firm  in  their  loyalty  to  the 
queen.  Without  entirely  approving  the  powers  she  claimed 
or  asserted,  they  supported  the  queen's  government  in  her 
determination  to  disavow  the  encroachments  and  exactions 
of  the  papal  see,  to  reform  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  and 
to  uphold  the  independence  of  their  country.  It  would 
have  been  a  wanton  act  of  tyranny  to  have  refused  to 
them  all  toleration  o  fthose  observances  which  were  so  dear 
to  their  hearts,  simply  to  gratify  the  Puritan,  who  was 
too  often  excited  by  mere  feelings  of  intolerance  and 
party  zeal.  To  do  justice  to  the  government,  we  must 
repeat  the  statement,  that  there  were  two  extremes,  to 
whom  it  was  necessary  to  pay  equal  attention.  If  it  were 
difficult  to  compel  the  Puritan  to  wear  the  surplice,  it 
was  equally  difficult  to  persuade  the  Anglo-Catholics — 
that  is,  the  majority  of  conformists — to  lay  aside  the  cope. 
It  was  easy  to  claim  concessions  on  the  one  side  or  the 
other,  but  on  neither  side  was  it  easy  to  make  them,  so 
hard  it  is  ri>%sh  rou  [xeo-ou. 

That  there   was  an   honest,  and,  for   a  short  time,  a 
successful,  attempt  to  deal  fairly  with  all  parties,  will  be  Catholic 
apparent  to  such  persons  as  will  consult  the  injunctions,  tan  parties 


Conces- 
sions both 
to  the 


374  LIVES   OP   THE 

chap,     the  advertisements,  the  royal  letters,  and  the  other  publio 
>-   ,  '-^  documents  issued  in  the  early  part  of  Elizabeth's  reign. 
Varker.         But  the  government  was  always  under  the  influence 
1559-75.    of  fear  rather  than  of  love.     Fearing,  at  one  time,  the 
Puritans,  it  endeavoured  to  obtain  concessions  from  the 
Catholics  ;    and   then,    when   the   seminary  priests   and 
Jesuits  made  their  appearance  in  England,  the  govern- 
ment, taking  alarm  in  the  opposite  direction,  adopted 
severe  political  measures  which  gave  sufficient  ground  to 
its  assailants  for  the  assertion,  that  the  Catholics  had 
been  treated  with  unjust  harshness.     Had  the  authorities 
in  Church  and  state  been  sufficiently  powerful  to  carry 
out  their  political  schemes  to  a  successful  issue,  the  Ee- 
formation  in  this  country  would  have  been,  if  not  more 
impartial,  yet  certainly  more  complete. 
Acts  of  The  archbishop  avowed  his  determination  to  abide  by 

anti-papal,  two  Acts  that  had  been  passed  in  the  late  parliament, 


but  Ca- 
tholic 


introduced  probably  at  his  own  suggestion.  By  the  first 
the  Court  of  Faculties  was  instituted,  to  which  attention 
will  be  hereafter  more  particularly  called ;  an  Act  which 
removed  the  granting  of  dispensations  and  licences  from 
the  papal  court  to  the  court  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. 

We  have  here  to  remark,  that  the  Papists,  or  persons 
holding  extreme  opinions  on  the  Catholic  side,  had 
long  before  quitted  the  country ;  and  to  this  enactment  the 
remaining  secular  clergy  were  not,  speaking  generally, 
opposed. 

The  nineteenth  clause  of  the  second  of  the  two  statutes, 
to  which  reference  is  here  made,  contained  the  statutory 
declaration,  that  it  was  never  intended  to  drive  the 
Church  of  England  into  an  uncatholic  or  sectarian  posi- 
tion.* 

*  25  Henry  VIII.  cap.  21 ;    28  Henry  VIII.  cap.  19. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF  CANTERBURY.  375 

The  reformation  of  a  colony  of  Christ's  kingdom   di-     chap. 
vinely  instituted  was  seen  to  be  very  different  from  the 


Matthew 

establishment  of  a  sect  ot  human  origin.  Parker. 

.It  was  expressly  declared,  that  it  was  not  the  purpose    1559-75. 
of  the  sovereign  or  of  the  parliament,  any  more  than  of  catho- 
the  Convocation,  "  to  decline  or  vary  from  the  congre-  the  church 
gation  of  Christ's  flock  in  anything  concerning  the  very  of  Eng- 
articles  of  the  Catholic  faith  of  Christendom." 

At  various  times  the  queen  expressed  her  resolution,  Policy  of 
not  only  to  uphold  the  Catholic  principles  of  the  Church,  men™'    ' 
but  also  to  extend  her  favour  beyond  the  immediate  de- 
mands of  justice  to  all  her  subjects  who  should  conduct 
themselves  with  loyalty  and  discretion. 

A  declaration  was  made  by  the  queen  so  late  as  in  the 
year  1570,  in  which,  not  long  before  the  demise  of  Parker, 
she  indirectly  declared  her  approbation  of  his  policy  in 
Church  affairs.  This  was  long  had  in  remembrance,  and 
was  frequently  quoted — by  her  friends,  to  prove  the 
liberality  of  her  sentiments  ;  and  by  her  enemies,  to  charge 
her  with  inconsistency  of  conduct. 

She  declared,  "that  she  would  have  all  her  loving 
subjects  to  understand,  that  so  far  as  they  shall  openly 
continue  in  the  observance  of  her  laws,  and  shall  not 
wilfully  and  manifestly  break  them  by  their  open  actions, 
her  majesty's  meaning  was  not  to  have  any  of  them  mo- 
lested by  any  examination  or  inquisition  of  their  con- 
sciences in  causes  of  religion,  but  will  accept  and  treat 
them  as  her  good  subjects."  * 

It  is  interesting,  almost  amusing,  to  see  how  in  the  A  balance 

„  of  coiices- 

government   measures   an   attempt   was   often   made  to  sions. 
balance  the  concessions  as  they  were  granted  first  to  one 
side,  then  to  the  other.     The  statements  are  antithetical ; 

*  Annals,  I.  ii.  372. 


376  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,     and  some  of  them  will  here  be  presented  to  the  reader, 

XII 

— r-^  because  they  show  the  animus  of  the  archbishop,  whose 
Parker,  wise  measures  were  eventually  frustrated  by  the  weak- 
1559-75.    ness  of  his  successor  in  the  see  of  Canterbury.* 

A  bible  of  the  largest  size  was  ordered  to  be  placed  ii 
the  parish  churches,  and  every  facility  was  offered  t< 
the  public  for  the  perusal  of  the  sacred  volume  ;  at  the 
same  time,  in  accordance  with  the  Church  principles 
•  already  noticed,  each  parish  was  to  be  provided  with 
the  paraphrases  of  Erasmus,  a  Catholic  whose  mind  was 
in  keeping,  certainly  not  with  the  foreign,  but  rather  with 
the  English  Eeformation ;  more  of  a  reformer  than  he 
had  the  courage  to  affirm  or  admit,  but  still  a  Catholic. 

Preaching — the  one  great  ordinance  of  Puritanism- 
was  encouraged,  but  only  those  among  the  clergy  were 
allowed  to  preach  who  were  duly  licensed  .by  the  primates. 
If  the  Anglo-Catholics  had  ground  of  complaint,  that, 
to  please  the  Puritans,  many  edifying  ceremonies  were 
abolished,  and  useful  observances  discontinued,  the 
Puritan,  on  the  other  hand,  became  liable  to  condign 
punishment  if  he  should  maliciously  neglect  or  violate  the 
rites  or  ordinances  still  retained  and  by  public  authority 
appointed  to  be  observed.  The  Puritans  maligned  the 
priests,  and  regarded  their  ministers  simply  in  the  light  of 
preachers  ;  but  the  people  were  required  to  bear  in  mind, 
that  the  priestly  office  or  function  was  a  divine  appoint- 
ment, and  they  were  directed  accordingly  to  treat  the 
priests  with  due  respect.  To  secure  this  end,  the  clergy 
were  required  to  appear  in  public  in  the  usual  dress  of 
the    priesthood ;    wearing   those    square    caps,    against 

*  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  Injunctions  of  1559,  to  the  Advertise- 
ments, to  the  Koyal  Letters,  and  other  public  documents  for  the  various 
statements  made  above. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  377 

which  the  Puritans  entertained  an  unaccountable  anti-     chap. 
patny.  » — , — - 

Indeed,  both  parties  were  admonished  to  abstain  from  Parker* 
"  convicious  words  "  as  applied  to  their  opponents.  The  1559-75. 
Anglo-Catholics  were  prohibited  from  reviling  the  Puritans 
as  heretics,  schismatics,  sacramentaries,  and  such  like ; 
while  the  Puritans  were  warned  against  defaming  the  op- 
posite party  as  popish  or  papistical.  Although  in  parish 
churches  the  Common  Prayer  was  to  be  pronounced  ■ 
in  a  language  "  understanded  by  the  people,"  yet  in  the 
universities  and  public  schools  the  Latin  Prayer  Book 
was  permitted,  and  chanting  was  everywhere  enjoined ; 
the  Litany  and  prayers  were  to  be  sung,  and  provision 
was  to  be  made  for  the  study  and  cultivation  of  music. 
In  spite  of  the  denunciations  of  Puritanism,  the  organ 
and  the  anthem,  still  pealed  through  the  vaulted  aisles 
of  our  cathedrals  and  larger  churches,  and  priests  offi- 
ciated in  their  surplices  and  copes.  Although  the  stone 
altars  were  removed  and  replaced  by  communion  tables, 
yet  the  old  form  of  words  in  the  administration  of  the 
Holy  Sacrament,  which  had  been  erased  in  King  Edward's 
Second  Book,  was  now  restored.  A  rubric  which  seemed 
to  make  a  question  of  the  Eeal  Presence  was  expunged ; 
and  although  common  bread  was  tolerated,  the  use  of  the 
wafer  was  recommended  by  the  primate  and  the  Bishop  of 
London,  and  was  generally  used  in  the  churches.  On 
the  communion  table  itself,  two  lights  were  permitted  to 
stand,  for  the  "  significance  that  Christ  is  the  true  light 
of  the  world." 

Although  many  medieval  observances  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  baptism  had  been,  to  the  regret  of  the  Anglo - 
Catholics,  discontinued,  yet,  to  the  disgust  of  the  Puritans, 
the  cross  was  still  retained  ;  as  was  also  the  ring  in 
marriage,   against  which  the  Dissenters  protested,  as  an 


378  LIVES   OF   THE 


chap,     intolerable  superstition.     Adoration  towards  the  Lord's 

XII 

■-  ,  '-'  table  was  encouraged.  The  feelings  of  our  reformers 
Parkea-T  with  respect  to  ceremonial  worship  is  proved  by  the 
1559-75.  retention  or  restoration  of  ceremonies  on  those  public 
occasions  to  which  the  people  in  general  were  not 
admitted.  Most  of  the  ancient  religious  ceremonies 
observed  by  the  Knights  of  the  Garter,  which  had  been 
abolished  by  King  Edward  VI.,  were  restored  by  Queen 
Elizabeth  to  the  condition  in  which  they  had  stood  in  her 
father's  time.  Things,  indeed,  were  so  well  arranged  in 
St.  George's  Chapel,  that  foreign  grandees  who  were 
admitted  to  the  Order  were  not  offended  by  certain 
omissions  in  the  ceremonial ;  while  at  the  same  time,  the 
Protestant  princes  did  not  complain  that  their  pre- 
judices were  shocked.  Nothing  proved  more  clearly 
the  via  media  of  the  Eeformation.  Eeturning  to  pa- 
rochial worship,  we  may  observe,  that  although  pro- 
cessions were  reduced  in  number,  yet,  out  of  regard  to  old 
Catholic  customs,  which  Puritans  "  maliciously  "  delighted 
to  set  at  naught,  it  was  expressly  ordered,  that  in  prayer, 
"  All  manner  of  people  should  devoutly  and  humbly  kneel 
upon  their  knees ;  and  that  whenever  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  should  be,  in  any  sermon,  lecture,  or  otherwise 
in  church  pronounced,  due  reverence  should  be  made 
with  lowness  of  courtsey  and  uncovering  of  the  heads  of 
the  man  kind,  as  thereunto  doth  necessarily  belong  a: 
heretofore  hath  been  accustomed." 

On  the  subject  of  the  Holy  Eucharist,  Parker  had  n 
been  involved  to  the  extent  of  his  immediate  predecesso 
Dr.  Cranmer  and  Cardinal  Pole  ;  but  we  have  his  opinion, 
and  an  important  one  it  is,  in  a  letter  addressed  by  his 
friend  Dr.  Gheast,  Bishop  of  Eochester,  to  Sir  William 
Cecil.  Gheast  was,  as  we  have  seen,  inclined  to  yield 
on  the  point  of  the  ceremonies,  though  he  observed  them 
himself,  and   caused   them   to   be   observed   by  others. 


of 

i 

■rs, 


i 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  379 

There  were,  perhaps,  other  points  of  difference  between     chap. 

him  and  Parker,  but  they  were  united  in  their  opinion  • ■ — » 

on  this  sacred  subject.  Bishop  Gheast's  judgment  was  Parked 
authoritative,  because,  in  drawing  up  the  Thirty-nine  1559-75. 
Articles,  it  is  known  that  the  28th  article  is  to  be  traced 
to  his  pen.  So  important,  indeed,  is  this  letter  as  an 
ecclesiastical  document  connected  with  the  reformation 
of  the  English  Church,  that  it  shall  be  presented  to  the 
reader  in  extenso.     It  is  dated  December  22,  1566  : — 

"  Greeting  in  the  Lord. 

"  Eight  Honourable, — I  am  very  sorry  that  you  are 
so  sick  :  God  make  you  whole ;  as  it  is  my  desire  and 
prayer.  I  would  have  seen  you  ere  this,  according  to 
my  duty  and  good -will;  but  when  I  sent  to  know  whether 
I  might  see  you,  it  was  oftentimes  answered  that  you 
were  not  to  be  spoken  with. 

"  I  suppose  you  have  heard  how  the  Bishop  of  Glou- 
cester found  himself  grieved  with  the  placing  of  this 
adverb — only — in  this  article  :  '  The  Body  of  Christ  is 
given,  taken,  and  eaten  in  the  Supper  after  an  heavenly 
and  spiritual  manner  only,' — because  it  did  take  away  the 
Presence  of  Christ's  Body  in  the  Sacrament ;  and  privately 
noted  me  to  take  his  part  therein,  and  yesterday,  in  my 
absence,  more  plainly  vouched  me  for  the  same. 

"  Whereas,  between  him  and  me,  I  told  him  plainly 
that  this  word  '  only '  in  the  aforesaid  article  did  not 
exclude  the  Presence  of  Christ's  Body  from  the  Sacra- 
ment, but  only  the  grossness  and  sensibleness  in  the 
receiving  thereof ;  for  I  said  unto  him,  though  he  take 
Christ's  Body  in  his  hand,  received  it  with  his  mouth, 
and  that  corporally,  naturally,  really,  substantially,  and 
carnally,  as  the  doctors  do  write,  yet  did  he  not,  for  all 
that,  see  It,  feel  It,  smell  It,  or  taste  It. 

"  And,  therefore,  I  told  him  I  would  speak  against  him 


LIVES   OF  THE 


CHAP. 
XII. 


Matthew 
Parker. 


herein,  and  the  rather  because  the  article  was  of  my  o1 
penning.     And  yet  I  would  not,  for  all  that,  deny  an] 
thing  that  I  had  spoken  for  the  Presence.     And  this 
1559-75.    the  sum  of  our   talk.     And  this  that  I  said  is  so  true 

all  sorts  of  men,  that  even  Dr.  Hardinge  write th  the  same, 
as  it  appeareth  most  evidently  by  his  words  reported  in 
the  Bishop  of  Salisbury's  book,  page  325,  which  be  these  : 
'  Then  we  may  say  that  in  the  Sacrament  His  very  Body 
is  Present ;  yea,  really ;  that  is  to  say,  in  deed,  substantially ; 
that  is,  in  substance,  and  corporally,  carnally,  and  natur- 
ally ; '  by  which  words  is  meant,  that  His  very  Body,  His 
very  Flesh,  and  His  very  Human  Nature  is  there,  not  after 
corporal,  carnal,  or  natural-wise,  but  invisibly,  unspeak- 
ably, supernaturally,  spiritually,  divinely,  and  by  wai 
unto  Him  only  known. 

"  This  I  thought  good  to  write  unto  your  honour  f 
my  own  purgation. 

"  The  Almighty  God  in  Christ  restore  you  to  your  oh 
health,  and  long  keep  you  in  the  same,  with  increase 
virtue  and  honour. 

"  Yours  whole  to  his  poor  power, 

"  Edm.  Eoffe] 

"  To  the  Right  Honourable,  and  his  singular  good  Friend, 
"  Sir  William  Cecil,  Knight, 

"  Principal  Treasurer  to  the  Queen's  Majesty." 

The  good  intentions  of  the  queen  and  her  governmei 
in  this  line  of  policy  were  frustrated  by  the  violence 
that  party  spirit  which  was,  in  the  affairs  of  religion, 
rancorous  in  the  sixteenth  century  as,  alas !  it  still  tc 
often  is  in  the   nineteenth.     A  suspicion  of  the  trutl 
that  the  civil   authorities    shrunk    from   a   recourse 
extreme   measures,    gave    courage    even   to   the    timi< 
and  many  there  were  who  took  pleasure  in  defying  tl 


ei 

C 
cl 

tt 

01 

; 


AECHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  381 

government,  and  in  perplexing  the  advisers  of  the  crown,     chap. 
In  the  country  parishes  things  went  on  much  as  usual,  < — ^~> 
and  Elizabeth's  government  was  popular,  because,  through    parker. 
the  peace  of  the  realm,  the  cultivators  of  the  soil  could    1559-75. 
enjoy   the   fruits   of    their    industry.     There   the   "  old 
atholics  "  were  tacitly  habituating  themselves  to  those 
hanges  in  the  Eitual,  which  led  them  on  to  a  love  of 
he  Prayer  Book.     Not  so  the  towns.     In  the  activity 
of  town  life  there  was  a  love  of  excitement  and  con- 
roversies  were  bitter,  the  Puritans  being  in  the  ascen- 
ant.     It  became  evident  that  the  Puritans  would  not 
e  contented  unless  they  could  oust  the  Anglo-Catholics 
— that  is,  two-thirds  of  the  clergy  without  counting  the 
aity — from  the  Church  ;  and  the  annihilation  of  Puri- 
tanism became,  in  a   spirit  of  retaliation,  the  object  of 
he  papists.     Instead  of  conciliating,  both  parties  were 
ent  upon  exasperation  ;  so  that  at  length  Cecil,  acting 
n  the  advice  of  Parker,  called  the  queen's  attention  to 
he  incongruous  manner  in  which  the    services  of  the 
hurch  were  performed  in  the  metropolis,  in  the  follow- 
ng  document : — 

"  Some  perform  divine  service  and  prayers  in  the 
chancel,  others  in  the  body  of  the  church  ;  some  in  a 
seat  made  in  the  church ;  some  in  the  pulpit,  with  their 
faces  to  the  people  ;  some  keep  precisely  to  the  order  of 
the  book,  others  intermix  psalms  in  metre  ;  some  officiate 
with  a  surplice,  and  others  without  it. 

c<  In  some  places  the  table  stands  in  the  body  of  the 
church,  in  others  it  stands  in  the  chancel ;  in  some  places 
it  stands  altar-wise  distant  from  the  wall  a  yard,  in  others 
it  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  chancel  north  and  south ;  in 
some  places  the  table  is  joined,  in  others  it  stands  upon 
tressels ;  in  some  the  table  has  a  carpet,,  in  others  none. 
"  Some  administer  the  communion  with  surplice  and 


382  LIVES   OP   THE 

chap,     cap,  some  with  surplice  alone,  some  with  neither  ;  some 

— ^ — .  with  chalice,  others  with  communion  cup  ;  some  with 

Parked    unleavened  bread,  others  with  leavened  ;  some  receive 

1559-75.    kneeling,  others  standing,  others  sitting ;  some  baptize  in 

a  font,  others  in  a  basin ;  some  sign  with  the  sign  of  the 

cross,  others  make  no  sign ;  some  administer  in  a  surplice, 

others  without ;  some  with  a  square  cap,   some  with  a 

round  cap  ;  some  with  a  button  cap,  some  with  a  hat ;  some 

in  scholars'  clothes,  some  in  others." 

That  this  is  a  partial  statement  is  clear,  for  we  might 
say  the  same  of  the  practice  of  the  Church  in  the 
nineteenth  century  :  it  would  not  be  wholly  false,  and  yet 
it  would  only  be  partially  true.  From  this  statement  we 
see,  however,  that  the  controversy  had  already  begun 
to  change  its  ground.  It  was  no  longer  merely  a  strife 
about  images,  crucifixes,  chasubles,  and  copes  ;  these  were 
beginning  to  be  lost  sight  of  in  the  zeal  against  the  cap, 
the  surplice,  the  tippet,  and  the  wafer  bread.* 

The  Anglo- Catholics,  secure  in  their  majority,  were  still 
quiescent.  The  Puritans  were  the  assailants ;  but  in  the 
country  parishes  they  caused  as  yet  but  little  disturbance. 

In  the*  towns,  the  Puritans  were  now  clamouring  for 
the  abolition  of  the  episcopal  function,  if  not  of  its  name  ; 
for  the  abolition  of  set  forms  of  prayer,  and  of  the  sacra- 
mentals  of  the  Church.  They  retained,  indeed,  as  their 
sects  still  do,  the  name  of  Sacraments,  as  applicable  to 
two  ordinances,  although,  in  their  estimation,  Baptism 
and  the  Supper  of  the  Lord  are  denuded  of  that  specie 
grace  attached  to  them  severally  by  the  Catholic  Churcl 

The  reader  will  remember  to  have  been  shocked  at  th< 
application  of  ridicule,  in  sacred  polemics,  by  the  myi 
midons  of  Crumwell.     A  better  spirit  was  now  manifested, 
but  the  bad  taste  was  not  entirely  extinguished. 

We  have  an  instance  of  it  in  the  case  of  the  Dean 

*  See  Zurich  Letters,  i.  133. 


sm 

i 

n- 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF  CANTERBURY.  383 

Wells,  Dr.  Turner — one  of  the  most  obnoxious  and  ir-     chap. 

xii 
reverent  of  his  party.  ■ — r— * 

A  wretched  man  in  the  city  of  Wells  was  convicted  of  parkei-7 
adultery.  He  was  prosecuted  in  the  Dean's  Court,  and  1559-75. 
sentenced  to  an  open  penance  in  the  cathedral.  A  large  Dr.Tumer. 
congregation  assembled,  and  the  criminal  was  seen  issuing 
from  the  vestry  arrayed  in  the  cast-off  robes  of  a 
priest.  Turner's  profane  jocosity  was  exhibited  against 
the  episcopate  on  another  occasion.  The  dean  was  in  the 
habit  of  calling  bishops  "  white  coats  "  and  "  tippet  gentle- 
men.'" "  Who  gave  them,"  he  would  ask,  "  more  au- 
thority over  me  than  I  have  over  them,  to  forbid  me 
preaching,  or  to  deprive  me — unless  it  be  from  their 
holy  father  the  pope  ?  "  The  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
Dr.  Gilbert  Berkley,  first  remonstrated  with  the  un- 
happy man,  in  private,  on  the  impropriety  of  his  con- 
duct, and  then  admonished  him  publicly.  The  dean 
acted  consistently  on  his  own  principles,  for  he  first 
ridiculed  the  bishop  in  the  deanery,  and  then  denounced 
his  orders  from  the  pulpit. 

Turner,  who  was  a  humourist,  educated  a  pet  dog — 
and  a  wonderful  clog  he  was.  He  was  taught  a  variety 
of  tricks,  as  a  bishop  travelling  through  Wells  experienced. 
A  certain  bishop  having  called  upon  Dr.  Turner,  was 
invited  to  partake  of  the  decanal  hospitality,  and  to  meet 
a  few  friends  at  dinner.  The  dinner  was  served,  and  to 
the  bishop  was  assigned  the  place  of  honour  at  the  head 
)f  the  table.  To  his  well-instructed  puritan  dog  the  dean 
Lerely  said  "The  bishop  sweats,"  and  straightway,  rushing 
it  his  lordship,  the  dog  seized  his  square  cap,  and  bringing 
it  to  his  master,  received  his  approbation,  and  had  his 
share  of  the  luxuries  of  the  table. 

It  would  have  been  pardonable  if  things  had  not  pro-  Persecu- 
ceeded  further  than  this  poor  joke  ;  but  every  attempt  Parker  by 
was  made  to  lower  the  English  reformers — or,  as  the  tans. 


384  LIVES   OP  THE 

chap,     party  styled  them,  the  Court  Keformers — in  public 
— r— -  matiou.     The  learned  men  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for 
Parker,     the  reformation  of  the  Manual  and  Missal,  and  so  for 


i 


1559-75.  the  establishment  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  wer 
reputed  or  misrepresented  as  a  papistical,  or,  at  th 
best,  as  a  "  Lutherano-papistical "  ministry.*  Archbishop 
Parker  had  not  only  these  hard  names  to  bear,  but  he 
was  called  "  Matthew  meal-mouthe,"  and  also  a  "  linsey- 
woolsey  bishop."  The  archbishop  was  sometimes  alarmed 
lest  an  attempt  should  be  made  upon  his  life. 

Aware  of  his  timidity,  the  Puritans,  through  anonymous 
letters,  amused  themselves,  at  one  time,  by  playing  on 
the  simplicity  of  the  primate's  steward,  who  warned  his 
master,  that  there  was  a  determination  to  take  off  by 
poison,  or  otherwise,  reformers  whose  scheme  of  reform 
had  not  descended  to  puritanism.  That  Parker  was 
alarmed,  and  that  many  persons  believed  that  some  such 
attempt  upon  the  lives  of  our  leading  men  would  be 
made,  there  can  be  no  doubt;  but  although  a  person 
was  prosecuted  under  circumstances  of  strong  suspicion, 
the  impartial  reader  will,  perhaps,  if  he  thinks  fit  t 
examine  the  subject,  come  to  the  conclusion,  that  th 
object  of  the  conspirators  was  rather  to  terrify,  than 
murder  the  archbishop. 

The  alleged  conspiracy  did  not  take  place  until  man 
years  had  elapsed  ;  but  it  is  mentioned  here,  that  the 
reader  may  have  in  mind  the  alarms  to  which  Parker  was 


: 


*  Zurich  Letters,  i.  177;  ii.  143.       Gualter,  in  a   letter  to  Beza, 
bearing  date  July  23,  1556,  speaks  of  the  English  reformers,  aswolve 
papists,  Lutherans,  Sadducees,  and  Herodians.  Ibid.  ii.  125.    Referenc 
is  made  to  these  passages,    and  they  might  be  multiplied,    to  show, 
what  is  frequently  forgotten,  that  the  great  body  of  English  churchmen 
both   of  the  clergy  and  of  the  laity,   were,   though    not   Romanis 
yet  decidedly  Catholics. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY 


385 


subjected ;  while  the  very  circumstance  of  his  being 
easily  alarmed,  renders  his  firmness  the  more  praiseworthy, 
and  we  shall  have  occasion  to  show  that  in  moral  courage 
he  was  not  deficient. 

Although  Parker  was  not  an  Erastian,  he  sometimes 
acted  as  if  he  were ;  and  he  set  a  bad  example  of  appeal- 
ing to  the  authority  of  the  crown,  when  his  own  authority 
was  defied,  as  it  sometimes  was,  by  the  very  persons  who 
were  sworn  to  defer  to  it.  It  was  thus  that,  in  1564,  he 
brought  the  royal  authority  to  bear  upon  certain  bishops, 
who  withheld  from  him  their  support.  Among  the 
bishops  several,  at  first,  sympathized  with  the  Puritans 
rather  than  with  the  Anglo-Catholics ;  and  though  they 
dared  not  disobey  the  queen,  they  had  no  inclination  to 
share  the  unpopularity  of  the  primate,  who  in  treading 
the  via  media,  provoked  opposition  on  either  side. 

That  Cecil's  report  to  the  queen  was  drawn  up  with 
the  concurrence  of  the  archbishop,  if  not  by  his  advice, 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  The  queen  was  irritated,  and 
was  quite  ready  to  act,  when  it  was  further  suggested, 
that  she  should  strengthen  Parker's  hands  by  addressing 
to  him  a  letter,  in  which,  with  reference  evidently  to  the 
report,  she  expressed  her  determination  to  have  "  all 
such  diversities,  varieties,  and  novelties,  as  tended  to  a 
breach  of  charity,  and  were  against  the  laws,  good  usages, 
and  ordinances  of  the  realm,  reformed  and  repressed,  and 
brought  to  one  manner  of  uniformity  throughout  our 
realm  and  dominions."  She  directed  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  (and  she  promised  to  issue  a  similar  mandate 
to  the  metropolitan  of  the  northern  province)  to  confer 
with  his  suffragans  ;  calling  in  the  aid,  if  necessary,  of  the 
royal  commissioners,  that  measures  might  be  immediately 
taken  to  enforce  uniformity.  No  one  was  to  be  instituted 
or  collated  for  the  time   to  come,  unless   he  solemnly 

VOL.  IX.  CC 


CHAP. 
XII. 

Matthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 


Royal 
mandate  to 
the  pri- 
mate. 


Unifor- 
mity to  be 
enforced. 


386  LIVES   OP   THE 

chap,    promised  that  uniformity  which  the  bishops  were  re- 
• — . — -  quired  to  enforce.* 

Parke?        The  archbishop  lost  no  time;    and  on   the  30th  of 
1559-75.    January  he  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  to  communi- 
bbhop'a      cate  t^ie  <lueeil's  commands  to  the  bishops  of  his  province. 
directions    jje  wrote,  at  the  same  time,  privately  to  Cecil,  telling 
Bishop  of    him,  that  it  was  only  from  a  minority  of  his  suffragans 
that  he  could  expect  a  cordial  support ;  and  he  hoped 
therefore,  that  "  no  back-door  influence  "  would  be  per- 
mitted, such  as  should  induce  the  queen  to  change  her 
mind,  f 

The  queen  had  yielded  to  the  sound  advice  of  her  true 
and  faithful  friend  and  counsellor,  Sir  William  Cecil ;  and 
she  was  quite  aware  of  the  mischief  which  would  accrue 
to  the  state  from   puritanism,  if  it  were   permitted  to 
proceed  on  its   way  to  anarchy  unrestricted  and  unre- 
strained.    At   the  same   time,  she  also  knew,  that  the 
Anglo-Catholics  were  in  the  majority,  and  were  strong 
enough  to  resist  the  machinations  of  their  opponents  i1 
they  could  be  roused  to  exertion.     It  was  unpleasant  te 
present  herself  as  a  butt  to  so  powerful  a  party  as  that  oi 
the  Puritans,  and  she  was  selfish  enough  to  desire  ttu 
the  bishops  should  incur  the  responsibility  and  unpopi 
larity  of  her  measures,  while  she  would  only  appear  oi 
the  scene  when  it  should  become  absolutely  necessary  to 
exert  the  powers  of  the  state. 
Parker  in        Parker  knew  this,  and  resented  it.    At  the  present  time 
versywith  the  queen  was   also  under  the  fascination  of  that  bole 
the  queen.  bad    m^   Robert   Ducney5   Earl    of    Leicester.  $      He 

*  Corresp.  p.  223-6.  t  Ibid-  P-  229- 

J  Sir  Robert  Dudley,  K.G.,  younger  son  of  John  Duke  of  North- 
umberland, was   created  Baron  Denbigh,   September  28,   1563,  anc 
Earl  of  Leicester  on  September  29,  1569  ;  he  must  therefore  have  bee 
at  this  time  in  the  highest  favour  with  the  queen. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  387 

obtained  over  the  queen  the  same  kind  of  fascination,     chap. 
amounting  almost  to  a  monomania,  as  Anne  Boleyn  had  .   X*L .. . 
exercised  over  Elizabeth's  father  ;  and  Leicester,  though     par£rW 
one  of  the  most  profligate  men  of  the  age,  was,  never-    1559-75. 
theless,  a  Puritan  or  patron  of  Puritans  ;  and  he  was  not  Leicester's 

7  x  influence 

unwilling  to  exhibit  before  the  court  that  influence  over  with  the 
the  queen's  mind,  which  seemed  occasionally  to  nullify 
the  wise  counsels  of  Cecil. 

Because  Cecil  upheld  the  Church,  Leicester  was  the  Leicester 
supporter  of  sectarianism.  He  was  sensible  of  the  power  |ur^ane 
which  pertained  to  a  man  who  represented  a  powerful 
party  in  the  realm  ;  and  we  are  not  to  be  severe  upon 
the  Puritan  party  for  having  selected  such  a  leader, 
because  a  man's  real  character  cannot  be  fully  known 
while  he  remains  an  actor  in  the  scenes  of  this  busy  world. 
We  know,  indeed,  from  various  sources,  that  there  was 
a  charm  in  the  manner  of  Leicester,  which  might  well 
disarm  suspicion,  until  certain  facts  in  his  history  were 
brought  to  light,  which,  during  his  lifetime,  could  seldom 
amount  to  more  than  suspicions. 

That  the  Puritans  should  select  as  their  leader  a  man, 
who,  at  the  best,  was  a  dissipated  and  self-indulgent 
worldling,  might,  indeed,  surprise  us  if  history,  in  every 
age,  did  not  announce  the  fact,  that  parties  choose  their 
leaders,  not  on  account  of  their  merits,  but  because  of 
their  power,  adventitious  or  personal.  To  Leicester,  the 
Bishop  of  Durham,  Pilkington,  supported  by  Whittingham, 
his  dean,  addressed  themselves,  and  pleaded  with  ability 
the  cause  of  those  Puritans  who,  to  obtain  preferment, 
had  conformed,  but  struggled  to  be  free  from  all  restraint. 
They  desired  to  be  exonerated  from  their  pledges  and 
their  vows,  and  they  represented  to  the  royal  favourite, 
that  the  queen,  by  deserting  the  Church,  would  increase 
the  number  of  her  loyal  and  devoted  subjects.     Whit- 

cc  2 


388  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap,    tingham  concluded  his  letter  by  complaining  of  the  lenity 

*- — r— -  shown  to  the  Anglo-Catholics,  whom  he  styled  Papists ; 

Parker*    and  he  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  noble  earl,  be  our  patron  and 

1559-75.    stay  in  this  behalf,  that  we  may  not  lose  that  liberty  that 

hitherto  by  the  queen's  benignity  we  have  enjoyed."* 

Leicester  nevertheless  was  quite  aware,  that  although 
he  had  the  heart  of  the  queen,  yet  her  mind  was  with 
Cecil.  Cecil  felt  secure,  that,  on  an  emergency,  the 
queen  could  overcome  her  passion  and  bring  her  power- 
ful intellect  and  her  iron  will  to  uplift  the  capricious 
woman  into  the  patriot  queen  ;  but  he  was  also  aware 
that,  when  things  went  on  smoothly,  she  would  frown 
upon  Cecil  and  Parker,  if  it  were  only  to  win  a  smile 
from  her  fascinating  favourite.  Parker,  in  writing  to  the 
secretary,  complained  bitterly  of  the  queen's  conduct. 
He  remarked,  that  it  would  have  been  far  better  to  have 
permitted  things  to  remain  as  they  were,  than,  after 
threatening  and  exasperating  their  opponents,  to  retire 
ignominiously  from  the  battle,  if  not  defeated,  yet  cer- 
tainly not  confirmed  in  power.  He  went  so  far  as,  in  a 
letter  evidently  intended  to  meet  the  queen's  eye,  to  utter 
a  threat,  saying,  that  if  a  remedy  were  not  provided,  "  I 
will  no  more  strive  against  the  stream  ;  fume  or  chide 
who  will." 

Parker  expressed  himself  thus  strongly,  because  he  saw 
the  queen  determined,  in  her  selfishness,  to  compel  him 


to  adopt  active  measures,  and  to  bear  the  blame  of  the 
if  blame  there  were,  by  himself  and  unsupported. 


- 


Parker  Like  the  Puritans,  Parker  had  discovered  the  value  of 

tigress,    the  press  ;  and,  on  the  side  of  conformity,  he  enlisted  the 

pens  of  Jewel,  Gheast,   and   even  of  Horn,  Bishop    of 

Winchester.     As  these  persons  had,  at  a  former  period  of 

their  lives,  expressed  their  dislike  of  the  retention  of  sacer- 

*  Neal,  i.  126. 


ARCHBISHOPS   OF   CANTERBURY.  389 

dotal  garments,  and  certain  other  ancient  ceremonials  of    chap 

•  XIT 

the  Church  of  England,  it  was  supposed,  that  their  change 


of  sentiment  would  have  had  a  salutary  effect  upon  the     Parker? 
Puritans  in  general.     But  the  truth  is,  that  they  regarded    1559-75. 
the  vestment  controversy  as  relating  to  the  non-essentials 
of  religion  ;  and  therefore,  they  had  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  a  concession  might  be 
made  to  the  prejudices  of  a  large  party  in  the  Church. 

Bishop  Jewel,  and  others  who  had  sent  in  their  adhe- 
sion to  the  government  of  Parker  in  ecclesiastical  affairs, 
had  now  become  sensible  that  the  Church  would  not 
gain,  if,  to  gratify  the  noisy  Puritans,  the  more  peaceable 
Anglo -Catholics  should  be  provoked  to  resistance.  That 
Jewel  and  Gheast  and  some  others  should  have  thought,  at 
first,  that  concession  to  the  Puritans  in  the  vestment  con- 
troversy would  have  been  the  best  policy  is  not  wonderful ; 
but  the  wonder  is,  that  modern  readers  should  make  no 
allowance  for  a  change  of  opinion  in  men  of  inquiring 
minds,  who  lived  in  an  age  when  all  around  was  in  a 
state  of  commotion.  They  realized  the  principle,  that 
they  were  called  upon,  not  to  establish  a  Protestant  sect, 
but  to  reform  a  branch  of  the  Catholic  Church  ;  and 
they  gradually  became  aware,  that  although  the  popular 
clamour  was  raised  against  the  "  sacerdotal  vestments," 
the  real  attack  was  made  upon  the  "episcopal  regimen." 
Throughout  this  controversy,  and  long  afterwards,  a  dis- 
like to  the  Catholic  and  scriptural  ordinance  of  episcopacy 
may  be  traced  as  the  chief  motive  power  in  the  mal- 
contents. 

The   line   taken   by  those  prelates  of  the  Church  of  Foreign 
England   had   an   indirect   influence  upon  some  of  the  gians  con- 
foreign  divines.     Gualter  and  Bullinger  were  consulted,  sulted' 
and  not  seeing  the  precise  point  of  the  controversy,  they 
advised  the  English  Puritans  to  conform  in  what  related 


390 


LIVES   OF   THE 


5HAP. 
XII. 

]\I;ttthew 
Parker. 

1559-75. 

Puritans 
discovor 
Anti- 
christ in 
the  Church 
of  Eng- 
land. 

Prayer 

Book 

popish. 

Festivals, 
organs, 
chanted 
service, 
figured 
music, 
popish 
abomina- 
tions. 

Bowing  at 
the  name 
of  our 
Lord. 

The  intro- 
duction of 
wafer- 
bread  in 
the  Eu- 
charist. 


Popish 
vestments 
in  the  Ke- 
formed 
Church. 


to  the  clerical  attire  ;  but  their  interference  had  no 
salutary  effect  upon  the  leaders  of  the  non-conforming 
party.  In  vain  also  did  Parker  produce  the  authority 
of  Bucer  and  Peter  Martyr. 

The  Puritans  now  openly  complained,  that  in  the 
ecclesiastical  regimen  "  many  traces  of  Anti-Christ  were 
retained."  The  Prayer  Book,  it  was  said,  was  filled  with 
many  absurdities  and  silly  superfluities.  Although  the 
grosser  superstitions  had  been  taken  away,  the  whole,  it 
was  affirmed,  was  composed  on  the  model  of  the  papists. 
The  greater  part  of  the  canon  law  was  still  enforced,  and 
from  it  ecclesiastical  censures  were  generally  taken. 
Festivals  were  retained  in  the  name  of  saints  with  their 
vigils  as  formerly ;  the  service  was  chanted  with  the 
accompaniment  of  organs  and  figured  music.  All  persons 
were  required  reverently  to  bow  themselves  at  the  name 
of  Jesus.  Chancels  were  preserved  in  churches,  and 
generally  throughout  the  Church  the  prayers  were  said 
or  sung  in  the  place  accustomed  in  medieval  times,  unless 
the  bishop  should  order  it  otherwise.  In  the  adminis- 
tration of  "  the  Supper,5'  wafer-bread  had  been  rein- 
troduced, after  having  been  done  away  with  in  the  reign 
of  King  Edward :  in  every  church  throughout  England, 
the  minister  was  arrayed  in  a  surplice,  and  in  the  larger 
churches  the  chief  minister  was  obliged  to  wear  a  cope. 
Two  other  ministers,  called  the  Deacon  and  Archdeacon, 
were  to  assist  him  in  the  reading  of  the  Epistle  and 
Gospel.  Such  was  the  Church  of  England  in  the  first 
days  of  the  Eeformation. 

In  their  external  dress,  the  Ministers  of  the  Word,  as 
the  Puritans  called  them,  were  compelled  to  conform 
themselves  to  that  of  the  Catholic  priests,  such  as  the 
English  clergy  still  claimed  to  be  :  the  square  cap  was 
imposed  upon  all,  together  with  a  gown  as  long  and  loose 


ARCHBISHOPS   OP   CANTERBURY.  391 

as  conveniently  might  be  ;  and  to  some  also  was  added  a     chap. 

•  XTI 

silk  hood.     This  was  the  state  of  the  controversy,  as  we  « — r-w 
learn  from  the  correspondence  of  the  period,  in  the  year    parked 

1566*  1559-75. 

Of  Parker's  controversies  with  the  queen  we  have  already  Ecciesi- 
said  something,  and  we  shall  have  occasion  to  say  more.  Com- 
The  uncertainty  of  obtaining  the  queen's  support,  even  misslon- 
when  carrying  out  her  own  commands,  had  the  effect 
of  inducing  him  to  employ  the  aid  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Commission,  which  was  framed  under  a  late  Act  of  the 
parliament.  This  was  a  great  misfortune,  and  introduced 
an  Erastian  principle  into  our  system  not  easily  eradi- 
cated. It  may  not  be  easy  to  vindicate  Parker's  conduct, 
but  it  certainly  is  not  difficult  to  account  for  it.  Attacked, 
as  Parker  was,  by  one  powerful  party,  and  only  luke- 
warmly assisted  by  the  other,  it  is  difficult  to  say  what 
course  he  could  have  pursued  different  from  that  which 
he  thought  it  expedient  to  adopt.  His  difficulties  in 
the  year  1565  were  the  greater,  because  the  Puritan 
party  were  at  this  time  under  the  direction  of  two  men 
equally  distinguished  for  their  learning  and  their  piety, 
and  not  wholly  unamenable  to  moderate  counsels. 

Dr.  Sampson  had  been   attracted   from   the   peaceful  Contro- 
deanery  of  Chichester  to  the  deanery  of  Christ  Church,  sampsml 
which  placed  him   at   the   head   of  society  in  Oxford.  a^^um" 
There  he  found,  in  the  President  of  Magdalen  College, 
Dr.  Humphrys,  a  man  of  congenial  spirit  with  his  own. 
When  officiating   in   London,   these   highly   respectable 
divines   refused   to    comply  with  the   discipline  of  the 
Church.     They  were  admonished  by  the  Council;  and 
they  addressed  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  over 
whom  the  archbishop  presided,  a  supplicatory  letter  in 

*  See  Zurich  Letters,  and  Parker's  Correspondence. 


392  LIVES   OF   THE 

chap.  Latin.  They  corresponded  with  Gualter  and  Bulling( 
*. — r— '  and  were  led  into  a  controversy  with  them  and  some 
ParkeT  their  brethren  in  England,  the  merits  of  which  it  is  not 
1.559-75.  necessary  here  to  discuss.  It  is  only  necessary  to  ob- 
serve, that  although  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners 
were  divided  in  their  opinions,  the  decision  of  the